Opinion: Haas should of stuck with Mick Schumacher instead of going with Nico Hülkenberg
The driver’s market in 2022 was active with many shock driver moves. For example, Fernando Alonso’s move to Aston Martin. Another move being Nico Hülkenberg replacing Mick Schumacher at the Haas team. Many people around the paddock think it is a bad move for the American team. Yet, others believe that it was the right decision to bring in the 35-year-old German driver.
Formula One is a cutthroat business when it comes to young drivers. With the sport traditionally being impatient with the drivers. The evidence for this is Red Bull only giving Alexander Albon a season and a half in the top team. When looking at the relationship between Haas and Schumacher. The young German driver was given two years with the team. It was hard to see Schumacher’s development in his first season. The reason for this is that Haas’ 2021 car was uncompetitive. Which resulted in Schumacher not being able to compete with other drivers. This meant that 2022 was the first time that Schumacher had a car which could score solid points. It was also hard to judge Schumacher’s development in his first season because his teammate Nikita Mazepin underperformed. This made Schumacher’s results look better because he dominated his teammate. In 2022 his teammate was Kevin Magnussen. The Danish driver had more success against Schumacher.
When you look at Schumacher’s performance over the 2022 season it was up and down. This is because he had some solid performances that led to finishes in the points. This was evident in Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring. Yet he has had some costly crashes in Saudi Arabia and Monaco. These crashes were even more critical for a team like Haas. This is because crashes cost a lot of money and for a team like Haas every penny matters. If you analyse Schumacher’s season. You could argue that there were more positives, then negatives. You could also see that Schumacher can achieve a strong race pace on a given weekend. The problem was having the pace consistently. It is going to be many years until the Haas team becomes strong points contenders. This suggests that they could have developed a young driver along with a promising team. This is why many people believe that Haas should have kept the Schumacher.
When looking at Hülkenberg you are getting an experienced pair of hands behind the wheel. He has a lot of experience in the F1 midfield. This is a massive positive for the Haas team as they need knowledge about the midfield. Hülkenberg is a constant points scorer when given the right machinery. The evidence for this is his time with Renault and Force India. The big question going into Hülkenberg’s return is his three years absence. However, Alonso’s comeback with Alpine proved age is just a number
There is no long-term plan with Hülkenberg due to his age. That’s why Schumacher could be seen as a better long-term option.