Schumacher receives warning: No more crashes or you're out

While there have been murmurs across the paddock for quite some time, Haas F1 team owner Gene Haas has confirmed that he does feel the pinch from the cost of repairing "wrecked" cars due to the frequent shunts of young driver Mick Schumacher.

As such, he admitted that an ultimatum has been given. "If he wants to stay with us, he's got to show us that he can score some more points. That's what we are waiting for," said Haas, as quoted by GP Fans.

He said that while the son of legendary F1 ace Michael Schumacher has improved this season, he will need to do much more if he wants to keep his seat. After the silly season commenced a few months ago, most of the teams have already confirmed their driver lineups for next season.

Only Haas and the Williams F1 team have not locked down both of their drivers for 2023, meaning Schumacher won't have many options if he ends up getting booted out of Haas.

Veteran Kevin Magnussen rejoined Haas this year after Nikita Mazepin and his family were sanctioned when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine ahead of the start of the 2022 campaign. Magnussen has outperformed Schumacher thus far, making it clear that if changes will be made, it will be the young Schumacher seeing the exit door.

There is no lack of talent hovering around the F1 grid, with the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Antonio Giovinazzi both trying to find a vacant seat to fill.

Schumacher finally scored points for the team this year at Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring, but he has also cost the team a huge chunk of their budget. He crashed heavily in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, as well as the recently concluded Japanese Grand Prix. All of these costly repairs have impacted the overall budget of the team.

"It's just too expensive," said Haas. "If you make any mistakes in driver selection, or strategy, or tire selection, it is costing you millions of dollars."

The team owner admitted that while he still believes Schumacher is a good driver with a lot of potential,, he can't ignore the costs. "He's wrecked a lot of cars that have cost us a lot of money that we just don't have."

Nevertheless, he has not closed the door just yet. Haas said that the future is still in the hands of the driver. "We need Mick to bring some points and we're trying to give him as much time as possible to see what he can do."