Mick Schumacher lifeline at Haas: “We’re done with rookies”

The vacant seat alongside the Dane is one of just three seats available on the grid, with spots at Alpine and Williams still available.

Haas are understood to be leaning towards current Aston Martin driver Nico Hulkenberg, but Mick Schumacher remains in the frame, edging out teammate Magnussen in recent rounds on track.

After putting Schumacher alongside fellow rookie Nikita Mazepin in 2021, Steiner wants to avoid a similar headache next year.

“Still thinking, you know, we want to take our time to make sure that next year at no stage we think ‘we did this too quick’ – because we don’t need to be in a hurry now,” Steiner said in Singapore.

“There is not a lot out there anymore on open seats and drivers. There’s not a lot of options, so we just want to make sure that we take the right decision and have no regrets next year.”

During Haas’ time in the sport, they have tended to favour experienced drivers.

In 2016, Romain Grosjean headed their challenge alongside Esteban Gutierrez, who had one year already under his belt.

From 2017 to 2020, Haas kept the same pairing of Grosjean and Magnussen before switching them both out for Schumacher and Mazepin, mainly due to financial reasons.

With Haas and F1 as a whole in a better spot, Steiner has more freedom to choose his driver pairing.

He added: “I would say I’m done in the moment with rookies for the foreseeable future,” Steiner stated.

“But I mean, we need to see what is best for the team or who’s the best person or who is the best driver to bring the team forward.”

• 2023 F1 driver line-up