Guenther Steiner recalls Mick Schumacher incident at Haas that reminded him of Logan Sargeant

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Franco Colapinto is the latest young driver to earn a promotion to Formula 1 after replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams.

Team principal James Vowles made the tough call after Sargeant suffered a heavy crash during the Dutch Grand Prix.

Williams have only scored four points this season and they’ve all come courtesy of Alex Albon.

Logan Sargeant is only joined by both Sauber drivers at the bottom of the championship without a point and has now been released ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

READ MORE: Williams driver Logan Sargeant’s life outside F1 from height to Donald Trump ties

There were plenty of drivers in the conversation to replace the American before Franco Colapinto was given the nod.

One of those drivers was Mick Schumacher and speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, the German’s former team principal Guenther Steiner was speaking about one particular moment at Haas that Sargeant’s crash reminded him of.

Guenther Steiner remembers Mick Schumacher’s crash that was reminiscent of Logan Sargeant

Once Sargeant missed qualifying at Zandvoort due to the damage caused by his massive crash in FP3, rumours began to swirl.

Schumacher was one of the names linked with Sargeant’s seat alongside Kimi Antonelli from the Mercedes roster.

Wolff ruled out the move for Antonelli but encouraged Willams to take a closer look at the 25-year-old.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes relationship

Liam Lawson was also in contention to join Williams but a deal couldn’t be negotiated as the Kiwi may still be required by Red Bull or RB before the end of the season.

Vowles had reservations about Schumacher though due to his tendency to crash and Steiner has shared his experience of the German previously doing that.

When Mick Schumacher withdrew from the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Asked if he’s ever thought about not repairing a car after a driver’s crash, Steiner said: “I think I had that thought in Saudi Arabia when Mick didn’t start the race because it was wrecked so hard.

“It didn’t make sense to put it together again. Yes [we could have fixed it], but it would have maybe compromised the race after.

“That was the fault there, it wasn’t like we don’t do it because we don’t want to, it was like well if we do this and there’s another wreck, we cannot go to the next race because we don’t have enough parts.

“So, you need to pick your battles.”

Schumacher reached Q2 during qualifying for the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

However, he had a huge crash during that session and while he was OK, his car wasn’t and Haas had to make the call not to run him in that session.

Mick Schumacher had backing from another team principal in the F1 paddock

It’s looking less and less likely that Schumacher will ever return to Formula 1 at this stage.

Schumacher was overlooked by Alpine for rookie Jack Doohan for 2025 after racing for their WEC team this year.

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

McLaren boss Andrea Stella thought Schumacher deserved the Williams seat but ultimately has little skin in the game.

His most promising youngster Gabriel Bortoleto was never going to be in the running for the seat despite performing better than Colapinto in F2 this year.

Schumacher’s brand and talent will mean he’s always got a future in motorsport, but it’s hard to see him making a return to F1 unless Sauber take a punt on him going forward.