Ralf Schumacher wonders if Guenther Steiner "made the same demands on himself and on the team as he makes on others" after another poor race by Haas
Former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher points the blame on Haas team principal Guenther Steiner for the team's point-less performances in the recent weekends, mentioning that he (Steiner) should demand more from himself.
Schumacher feels that Drive to Survive star has a lot of demands from the team, and if he starts making the same demands from himself, the team could perform better, as they did in the 2022 season. Speaking to Sky Deutschland, he said,
"The car was good last year and nothing has happened since. It would just be good if the team boss made the same demands on himself and on the team as he makes on others."
Haas made themselves much more competitive in the 2022 season coming from the previous season. Entering this season, they made further changes in the team, replacing Mick Schumacher with Nico Hulkenberg was one of those changes, and at the same time, MoneyGram became their title sponsor.
Naturally, it was presumed that with a new sponsor and an experienced driver lineup, the team will perform much better this season, however, it hasn't quite happened until now. They have scored 11 points so far in the season (currently standing eighth), and are now under threat from Williams, who have the same amount of points, and Alfa Romeo are following them closely with nine points.
Ralf Schumacher puts direct blame on the car for Haas' downfall in 2023
Both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen are fairly experienced and have performed well in Formula 1 to at least score constant points during races, and this is exactly something that Haas have been unable to achieve with those drivers.
Ralf Schumacher blamed not the drivers but the cars for this issue. He stated that they are able to bring out the maximum in the car during qualifying sessions, but it's very difficult to keep up the performance in races because the car does not do what it's "supposed" to.
"One thing is clear the drivers, especially one driver, do a great job in qualifying and the car just doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do," Schumacher said.
Haas are one of the smaller teams in Formula 1, but Schumacher leaves no space for it, adding that the goal in the sport is to keep improving.
"You can’t blame everything on the fact that it’s a small team – after all, you’re in Formula 1 and you want to improve. There’s great potential there," he added.