“He f****** destroys the car!” Revealing phone call that sealed Schumacher fate
Team principal Guenther Steiner and owner Gene Haas were repeatedly recorded by the Drive To Survive cameras in conversation about their driver’s crashes, and whether to axe him from their line-up.
Schumacher was ultimately replaced for the 2023 season by Nico Hulkenberg - and Drive To Survive reveals how, even after his best performance of 2022, conversations were ongoing about getting rid of him.
After Schumacher crashed in Saudi Arabia last year, Steiner was filmed saying: “I need to phone Gene now. F****** hell.”
“‘Hi Gene’.”
The owner replied: “‘Schumacher’s car looked pretty bad when they hauled it up’.”
Steiner: “‘It is f*****. Between half a million and a million [dollars’ worth of damage], I would say. F****** hell.
“Gave him a year to learn and what does he do in the second race? He f****** destroys the car just because the other one is faster’.”
Gene Haas said: “‘Have a little talk with Schumacher. He’s getting in over his head’.”
Steiner: “‘Yeah, yeah, OK, thanks Gene’.”
Schumacher was then interviewed by Netflix and said: “As a driver you want to go to the edge to figure out that, at 100%, you will go over it. To do it at a track like Saudi, was it the smartest thing? Maybe not.”
Steiner, in an interview with the show, said: “It is frustrating because there was no need for it. Nobody is just hanging around here in F1, having a good time. You need to perform.”
Steiner was then filmed by Netflix in conversation with his other driver, Kevin Magnussen.
Magnussen said: “Mick can do it, he has more.”
Steiner replied: “But as soon as he tries to have more, he f****** crashes, you know?”
Schumacher told Netflix: “Self doubt is coming in because I feel like the points are slipping away again.”
Schumacher would crash into the barriers in Monaco causing another phone call between team principal and owner.
Steiner said: “‘Hi Gene, that was disappointing, eh?’”
Gene Haas: “‘How was Mick doing?’”
Steiner: “‘He didn’t get in the groove from the beginning’.”
Gene Haas: “‘You know, it needs talent. You can’t develop talent’.”
Steiner: “‘No, you cannot buy it or develop it’.”
Gene Haas: “‘That is the dead man walking area’.”
Steiner: “‘If he doesn’t pull his trousers up, he will be soon’.”
Before the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Steiner and then-Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur were filmed chatting in the paddock.
Steiner joked to Vasseur: “When are we going to crash into each other for the first time?”
Steiner was then recorded talking to his team, saying: “‘He knows if he crashes here again, they’ll rip him to pieces. It’s not me, then. It’s the public.
“‘Do you know how much I have to listen to Gene? You have no idea. Gene doesn’t hate anything more than crashing a car’.”
Steiner was later overheard by the cameras saying: “If Mick doesn’t want to stay here, he is free to leave if he doesn’t like it.”
Schumacher finally scored points at the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone last summer, and Netflix caught the jubilant celebrations, included by Steiner.
But it became clear that talks were already ongoing to replace him.
Magnussen said to Steiner: “I don’t know what your plans are for next year.”
Steiner: “Just need to find somebody.”
Magnussen: “Daniel Ricciardo?”
Steiner: “We can’t afford him, Kevin. He wants 10 f****** million, minimum!”
Magnussen: “What about Hulken?”
Steiner: “We need to be smart. As much as you think I’m not smart, I am pretty smart!”
Steiner said in an interview with Netflix after Schumacher’s best performance: “The seat is still open. We are thinking it could be anybody. We will take our time to decide who will sit in it.”
Schumacher was eventually axed from their 2023 line-up, replaced by Nico Hulkenberg. This year he is Mercedes’ third driver.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
