Guenther Steiner feels Mick Schumacher has put himself in a "good position" to make a swift return to Formula 1 action after his Haas exit.
The German spent two years with the American team, which gave him his debut in the sport after winning the 2020 Formula 2 title. But he was not able to impress as much, scoring points on just two occasions last year with a better car than he had in 2021.
As a result, Steiner decided against renewing his contract. Nico Hulkenberg was recruited instead for his vast F1 experience, leaving Schumacher without a race seat for the upcoming 2023 campaign.
He will hope to return as quickly as possible as to not let his career stagnate, and in the meantime has signed with Mercedes as a reserve driver. Giving his view on that move, Steiner pointed at Schumacher's predecessor, Nyck de Vries, as an example of how that role can be a springboard for a future place on the grid.
"I think he is in a good position with Mercedes. Mercedes has many sibling teams," the Haas chief told German television. [De Vries] jumped in at Williams and got a regular seat at AlphaTauri through this route.
"[Schumacher is] in a good position. I hope for no driver's sake that he can't drive. But if there is a possibility, Mick can sit in and drive. Sometimes one step back is two steps forward. He's put himself in a good position with a team where he has the best chance for a regular cockpit in the future."
Since Schumacher accepted a reserve role, there have been some questions as to why a similar position wasn't offered by Haas when they decided to bring in Hulkenberg. The answer, Steiner says, is that he felt it would have been insulting to offer it as a consolation prize.
"I didn't ask him, to be honest," he told GPFans. "It's always difficult for somebody, if you have driven for a team, to then be relegated to reserve driver. I don't think he would be happy with that.
"He didn't approach me about that, and I didn't want to [approach him about it]. It’s a bit cheap to ask him, 'We won't let you drive the car, but would you like to be the reserve driver'."
