Former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher slams Haas in response to Mick Schumacher’s strategy call at the Japanese Grand Prix.
This comes after Schumacher restarted the Japanese Grand Prix race in 10th place and was contending for his first points since the Austria earlier this year after a prolonged red flag period.
In order to gain a large pace advantage as conditions improved, the field pitted for Intermediate tyres. Haas decided to keep Schumacher out on the track on the wet compound which was not the best strategy call and as a result the pursuing pack caught up by the German and knocked him out of the points.
Mick’s uncle Ralf was upset by the strategy choice and claims that Kevin Magnussen was given preferential treatment by Haas by being pitted for the Intermediate tyre considerably early. Schumacher also claimed in a post-race interview that Haas had the capability to leave Suzuka with points.
“It wouldn’t be the first time that Haas made decisions that tend towards Magnussen and not toward Mick,” he said to Sky Deutschland. “Points were up for grabs and we didn’t manage to get them, but definitely the speed was there,” he said.
“Our car is very strong, especially on inters, but unfortunately we put them on a bit too late.”
“The fact that we were running P3 at some point, and even did our first leading meters in P1 is something positive.”
Due to speculation that the US-owned team won’t work with the 2020 Formula 2 Champion for a third season, Schumacher’s F1 career beyond the 2022 season is seriously in doubt.
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner asserts that the team will bear responsibility for lost points and claims that the strategy calls were not proactive.
“We were caught on our backfoot with the strategy… We were too reactive and not proactive, and we ended up down the classification,” Steiner admitted. “It’s very difficult to make these decisions as we all know, and afterwards we’re always smarter with hindsight.”
“We’ll review what we did and see that we do better next time.”
