Guenther Steiner blames one thing for ‘continuously damaging’ Mick Schumacher’s F1 career

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Mick Schumacher’s chances of rejoining the Formula 1 grid look increasingly unlikely in the near future, after the German failed to secure a seat for the 2025 season.

There was some interest from Alpine after Schumacher impressed in outings for their WEC programme this year, while he was also on the radar for Sauber.

Instead, the Swiss team has opted to sign promising young driver Gabriel Bortoleto to their lineup alongside the experienced Nico Hulkenberg. According to reports, Mattia Binotto did not want to pair Schumacher with Hulkenberg because he felt it would be ‘too many’ German drivers in one team.

Much of Schumacher’s career momentum has stagnated since he was dropped by Haas at the end of the 2022 season, having incurred too many crashes and inconsistent results. It was also characterised by a fractious relationship with team principal Guenther Steiner, who is known for being tough on drivers when they do not perform.

In his new book, Unfiltered: My Incredible Decade in Formula 1, the former team boss details why he thinks Schumacher was a victim to unfair treatment in the press.

Guenther Steiner thinks Mick Schumacher was subject to unfair treatment by F1 media

Max Verstappen has been vocal recently about the apparent ‘British bias’ in F1 media, which has led to him being the subject of abuse and more scrutiny for his actions on track.

Schumacher was under a lot of intense media scrutiny because of being tied to the seven-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher, and Steiner believes a lot of the coverage ended up being unfair towards him and portrayed their relationship wrong.

“Like so many things, my relationship with Mick had been misrepresented by the press and the media almost from day one, which has done him no favours whatsoever. I was OK,” recalled Steiner.

“I was already an old man and if Gene ever decided to get rid of me (surely he would not dare!) I know I’d be OK. Mick, on the other hand, was at the very start of his career, and in my opinion his career has been continuously damaged for the sake of a few headlines.”

F1 return looking unlikely for Mick Schumacher

As F1 gears up for a new regulation cycle in the 2026 season, many of the teams are getting their lineups ready by giving drivers in 2025 a chance to embed themselves if they want to change after this season.

Haas and Sauber have opted for all-new lineups, while Alpine, Ferrari, Williams and Mercedes have been forced to make changes due to the highly active F1 driver market.

READ MORE: Who is F1 reserve and Alpine WEC star Mick Schumacher? Everything to know

Schumacher has missed out on this despite testing with Alpine earlier this year, while also carrying out his roles with Mercedes as their development driver.

Toto Wolff rated Schumacher’s ability to impress teams if they wanted to hire him, but with many deciding to go for upcoming talent or existing drivers on the grid, it seems there might not be a way back for Schumacher outside of a reserve or development role.