“I’m not trying to micromanage” Haas rookie driver – Steiner

Haas team boss Günther Steiner admits that he tries not to get too involved in working with his new rookie drivers on a personal level.

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Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher replaced the more experienced couple Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen in the winter, and both had spins in the inaugural race in Bahrain. While Schumacher was able to move on after his only mistake, Mazepin had several problems and retired on corner three of the race, but Steiner says he is trying to give the drivers room to work on improvements with their engineers at this point in their careers.

“It’s a pretty big challenge,” said Steiner. “Formula 1 is a very difficult sport, but we knew the challenge, so there is no big surprise. We have made up our minds to do it and we have to get through it.

“I’m just trying to see that the drivers are comfortable – I’m not trying to micromanage them. They have their engineers and have to work with them every day, or more precisely, from hour to hour, not me.

“In the beginning, however, I will certainly be well informed and try to see where I might have to intervene. I don’t do the job myself; I have good people on the team who know how to do the job better than me. I’m just watching what happens. When there is a problem, I am there to ask what it is and then I see if I need to do anything. “

Steiner takes a back seat because he is heavily involved in the development of Nikita Mazepin (left) and Mick Schumacher (right). (Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images)

For Schumacher it was important to use the three-week break between races to analyze as much as possible from Bahrain after so many new experiences as an F1 rookie.

“I think in general I’ve learned a lot of new things and we’ve seen this come through in all of the meetings we’ve had,” said Schumacher. “It’s always different to talk about it and feel it. There are a lot of things I’ve learned about tires, that’s probably the biggest new thing for me. Even with things like the downforce that we lose at the start of the race. It’s like the moment you turn a corner, you’re going from 100 percent downforce to 20 percent downforce.

“There was definitely a lot to learn and a lot to see before we went to Imola. I feel like I have a lot more knowledge and a lot more comfort, but I was also very surprised how quickly the weekend was over. It all happened in the blink of an eye – it was a case of little time and a lot to learn, let’s put it that way. “