The agonising financial cost of Mick Schumacher’s crashes
This cost was part of the reason that Haas have decided not to renew his contract for next year, and to replace him with Nico Hulkenberg who will sit alongside Kevin Magnussen in the F1 2023 driver line-up, according to German newspaper Bild.
The son of Michael Schumacher was regularly criticised by team principal Guenther Steiner for the frequency of his crashes and the financial impact on Haas.
Schumacher crashed this year in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, then in practice in Japan.
However, due in part to the prestige of his iconic family legacy, Haas were able to attract numerous sponsors to their team because of their allegiance with Schumacher.
It is unclear whether these same sponsors will remain with Haas in 2023 when Schumacher has gone - some have already decided to withdraw, Bild report.
But Haas’ new title sponsor is a game-changer for them.
‘Moneygram’, an American fintech company, will be the team’s main sponsor next year. The team will be renamed Moneygram Haas F1 Team.
Schumacher, meanwhile, is left scrambling for his F1 future with the possibility of a reserve driver role at Mercedes on the horizon.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
