Guenther Steiner is adamant that Haas have as much of a say over the future of Mick Schumacher as Ferrari.
The younger German is a member of the Italian team's driver academy. No doubt Ferrari hope he can one day follow in the footsteps of his father, who enjoyed unprecedented success when he won five championships in a row with the team.
For now he is learning the ropes with Haas, which has not been an easy ride so far. During his debut season he was driving an entirely uncompetitive car, and now that he does have a better machine at his disposal he has made some high-profile mistakes and had two big crashes.
Things look to be on the up now for Schumacher, though, after finally getting that breakthrough he had been working for. He scored his first points in Formula 1 after a battle with Max Verstappen at Silverstone, before scrapping with Lewis Hamilton on the way to another top-10 finish at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Haas chief Steiner is delighted with that turnaround after being critical of the 23-year-old following his crashes in Jeddah and Monaco. If his stronger form continues, there is no doubt the team would like to keep him around beyond this season.
Schumacher's contract with Haas expires at the end of the year, and although Ferrari have no room among their own driver lineup, there have been suggestions the team might want the German to step up to Alfa Romeo, or perhaps another team on the grid. But Steiner has claimed Ferrari's say is not necessarily final when it comes to Schumacher's future.
"I won't talk about any Ferrari contracts with us," he told Motorsport-Total.com . "And also not about contracts between Ferrari and Mick because I don't know those in detail either. You can't conclude Ferrari tell us what to do. We have a say in that."
Schumacher now has 12 points to his name this season, thought that is still 10 fewer than more experienced team-mate Kevin Magnussen. The total of 34 points has seen Haas climb to seventh in the constructors' standings, and Steiner will be hoping to close the gap to Alfa Romeo if their strong form continues.
