Haas: Schumacher won’t lose confidence after Jeddah F1 crash

Schumacher lost control of his car at the high-speed Turn 12 during Q2 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, resulting in a hefty impact with the barrier on the left-hand side of the track.

After being taken to hospital for precautionary checks, Schumacher was found to have suffered no injuries, but was ruled out of the Sunday grand prix.

It came as a setback for Schumacher, who recorded a career-best result of 11th in the Bahrain season opener and is now contending for his first points in F1 thanks to Haas's upswing in form.

But Steiner was sure that Schumacher's confidence would not be knocked by the crash, backing the German to bounce back amid the increased competition for points.

"I don't think that he'll lose confidence," Steiner said. "Obviously now the target is set a little bit higher than last year. Last year there was no question at all, we contended to be 19th and 20th. Because that was where we were - consistently, by the way.

"So this year, we think it's a good thing for him [to have more pressure]. Because you have to learn this. I continue to say the higher up you get, the thinner the air gets. So you need to deal with it.

"It's part of being an F1 driver. Dealing with pressure that's any high-profile sport or management position, it's like the pressure is on, and if you don't like the pressure, go and do something else."

Mick Schumacher, Haas F1 Team addresses the press

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Steiner felt that analysing the cause of the crash with Schumacher would be key to help him understand what happened and ensure his confidence was not dented.

"We need to talk it through, but I think he needs to do that, because we didn't drive the car, we need to show what he wants to see," Steiner said. "And I think [we need to] compare the data with Kevin, and I haven't compared the data. So did he try too hard? I don't know what it was. Was the tyre not warm enough? We need to find out.

"Then I think just getting back in a car, then you gain this confidence again."

Haas has already scored more points than in the previous two seasons combined thanks to Kevin Magnussen's back-to-back top-10 finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

The team opted against developing its 2021 car in order to place full focus on the new regulations in 2022, and has also benefitted from a major step forward with Ferrari's power unit.