Mick Schumacher fought back his anger with his Haas bosses after he was denied the chance to pass teammate Kevin Magnussen during the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint Race.
The German, 23, appeared to be running faster than Magnussen, 29, during Saturday afternoon's Sprint and did a fine job frustrating Lewis Hamilton, who was aiming to pass both Haas cars. However, team bosses chose not to switch the pair and Schumacher was ultimately passed by Hamilton's Mercedes.
The Brit, 37, did not have the chance to overtake Magnussen due to Schumacher's stoic defence and will start Sunday's Grand Prix from eighth on the grid, between the two Haas drivers. But Schumacher was visibly angry in his post-race interview, believing Magnussen should have been the man to hold off Hamilton.
"Yeah, it's something to be discussed," he told Sky Sports F1 of his team's strategy during the Sprint. "Obviously, I think that the battle with Lewis was fun, but in the first place it shouldn't have happened." Schumacher added: "I think in some ways I was quite a bit quicker [than Magnussen]."
Asked whether he believed he should have swapped places with his teammate, he simply responded: "Yeah." The exasperated German also confirmed he asked team bosses to instigate the switch, only for them to refuse his plea. Adding to his woes, Schumacher is also facing an FIA investigation for a potential "starting procedure infringement".
Quizzed on whether he knew why he faces a possible grid penalty, Schumacher responded: "There is one thing I can think of which is that I did a burnout in front of Kevin but then I let him through. Other than that, I don't really know if there's anything I did wrong. I don't think so. Maybe I was out of position. I'll see."
Should Haas have switched their two drivers? Have your say in the comments!
Probed one final time for the reason why Haas refused to swap him and Magnussen, Schumacher responded: "That's something I have to understand." Understandably, Magnussen was much more upbeat in his own interview while Hamilton chose to reflect on the contact on the first corner of the Sprint which hampered his progress.
"Obviously, I had two cars come around me into Turn 1 and Pierre [Gasly] moved across from me," the seven-time world champion said. "There was no way I could really do [anything]. Unfortunate incident but I don't think I could've done anything. And then, I got the same thing in Turn 3."
Max Verstappen secured pole position for Sunday's Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in second and third respectively.
