The owner of the Haas Formula 1 team, Gene Haas, says Mick Schumacher has cost his squad “a fortune” through various on-track incidents this year.
Schumacher’s future beyond the current campaign is in the air, as his contract expires at the conclusion of the season.
Various reports have suggested that the German driver will be out of the Haas seat for 2023, with current Aston Martin reserve Nico Hulkenberg tipped to replace him.
The early stage of Schumacher’s 2022 season was marred by sizeable incidents in Saudi Arabia and Monaco.
Haas says that the crashes have been costly for his team, who operates on a limited budget compared to other organisations.
“In this sport, being kind of a rookie driver, the sport just doesn’t allow it – it’s just too expensive,” Haas told The Associated Press.
“If you make any mistakes in driver selection, or strategy, or tyre selection, it is costing you millions of dollars.
“I think Mick has got a lot of potential, but you know he costs a fortune and he’s wrecked a lot of cars that have cost us a lot of money that we just don’t have.
“Now, if you bring us some points, and you are [Max] Verstappen and you wreck cars, we’ll deal with it. But when you are in the back and you wreck cars, that’s very difficult.”
Schumacher has scored points on two occasions this year, taking his best career result of sixth at the Austrian Grand Prix.
However, Haas has suggested that Schumacher must bring home further top 10 finishes in the remaining races this year to retain his seat.
“Mick’s future is going to be decided by Mick,” he said. “We’re just waiting. We need Mick to bring some points and we’re trying to give him as much time as possible to see what he can do.
“If he wants to stay with us, he’s got to show us that he can score some more points. That’s what we are waiting for.”
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