Replacing Mick Schumacher with the much older Nico Hulkenberg is "a waste of time" in the eyes of one of the more experienced German's former colleagues.
While perhaps not the most exciting, the uncertainty around Schumacher's Formula 1 future was certainly the longest-running saga of 2022 silly season. In his second F1 season, the feeling was Haas weren't convinced by his results.
And so it proved to be the case. After several months of mulling over the situation, team boss Guenther Steiner decided to replace Schumacher with Hulkenberg, explaining that he felt Haas needed a more experienced F1 racer behind the wheel for the coming campaign.
While Hulkenberg's experience and talent are undoubted, not everyone is convinced the American team has made the right move. Blake Hinsey, a former Force India and Red Bull engineer, is one of those who can't quite get on board with the logic.
Hinsey worked with Hulkenberg during the German's time driving for Force India. While he believes the 35-year-old is a "special" driver, he is not convinced Haas have made the right decision by putting him alongside Kevin Magnussen for the upcoming season.
"I like Nico, because he was on the other car when I was at Force India," the 35-year-old told GPFans. "He's a good driver – is he going to be better in two years than Mick would be in two years? I have no idea. And that's super hard to tell.
"It seems like Mick didn't really push. He was just really finding his feet and had a couple of moments in the middle of the season where you're like, 'Alright, alright', but now it's super hard to say. It's a really weird appointment and I think it doesn't make any sense to me.
"I think [it's] a very interesting appointment. Is he going to do well? I think so. He'll do all right. Is Kevin going to smash him up? Maybe." Hinsey went on to reference an infamous moment from 2017 when Magnussen and Hulkenberg clashed on camera in an interview pen when pointing out that the relationship might not be brilliant between Haas' new pairing.
"It's going to be an interesting dynamic at Haas with those two. There was, in the past, a very interesting exchange of words between the two when they drove for different teams. Don't let the Drive To Survive cameras in!"
