"The higher up you get, the thinner the air gets" – Haas F1 claims 'it's a good thing' for Mick Schumacher to get acquainted with pressure

Mick Schumacher becoming acquainted with pressure from the onset of his F1 career is a good thing, according to Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner.

Mere days after his 23rd birthday, Mick Schumacher had to sit out the 2022 F1 Saudi Arabian GP after suffering a horror crash during qualifying. The German's car rammed into a concrete barrier, leaving him without a car for the race on Sunday.

Guenther Steiner, however, doesn't feel the 33G crash at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit can shake Schumacher's confidence. Speaking following the race in Saudi Arabia, he said:

“I don’t think that he’ll lose confidence. Obviously now the target is set a little bit higher than last year. Last year there was no question at all, we contended to be 19th and 20th. Because that was where we were - consistently, by the way. So this year, we think it’s a good thing for him [to have more pressure]. Because you have to learn this. I continue to say the higher up you get, the thinner the air gets. So you need to deal with it. It’s part of being an F1 driver. Dealing with pressure that’s any high-profile sport or management position, it’s like the pressure is on, and if you don’t like the pressure, go and do something else.”

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Mick Schumacher's Jeddah crash could cost Haas F1 nearly $1 million

Mick Schumacher's aforementioned crash during qualifying at the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP has reportedly made a sizeable dent in Haas F1's budget for the season.

With a strict cost cap in place by F1, Haas could be feeling the pain by the time the season is over after Schumacher's totaled VF-22 could need nearly $1 million to repair.

Team boss Guenther Steiner described the extent of the damage after the race, saying:

“The chassis itself doesn’t seem to be broken. The side impact structure is, but you can change them. Obviously we need to do a proper check on the chassis but it looks not too bad, to be honest. The engine also, I was told from Ferrari, seems to be okay. The battery pack as well. And then all the rest is broken. I think the cost is still pretty high because all the suspension is gone, except the front-left. I think there’s still something on there. The rest is just like carbon powder. I don’t know money-wise but with these cars, between gearbox, the whole bodywork is gone, radiator ducts are gone, so it’s between half a million and a million I would say.”

Haas F1 have time on their hands to get the car ready for the next race. The 2022 Australian GP is set to be held between April 8-10 at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.