Guenther Steiner insists he would be ‘very happy’ to see Mick Schumacher back in a Formula 1 car, no matter what his uncle says.

Steiner and Schumacher worked together for two years in the young German driver’s brief spell with the American team, but it didn’t end well for the son of seven-time world champion Michael.

Mick earned his place in Formula 1 on merit, being promoted to the top echelon of the sport after becoming Formula 2 champion in 2020, being snapped up by Haas.

But the risky decision backfired for team and driver, as struggles with his car and a number of crashes saw him end his rookie season on zero points.

His sophomore season wasn’t much better, with more errors and shunts, while he was comfortably beaten by teammate Kevin Magnussen in the world championship standings. Schumacher finished in the points just twice all year and he was let go at the end of the season.

Since his departure as Haas team principal following the 2023 campaign, Steiner has spoken candidly on where it went wrong for the 25-year-old, and that has led to a war of words with his uncle, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher.

Uncle Ralf has accused Steiner of not wanting Mick to return to Formula 1, and is now refusing to work with the former Haas chief as a broadcast pundit.

“I don’t understand these senseless rants,” Ralf posted on Instagram. “I’m starting to get the feeling that he wants to prevent [a return]. Because if Mick returns successfully, Steiner would have to go through the dust.”

A 2025 return does appear to be on the cards for Mick, who completed a test day for Alpine on July 3 in the French team’s 2022 car at Circuit Paul Ricard.

And while his spat with uncle Ralf and public criticism of Mick might suggest otherwise, Steiner insists he would be fully supportive of the young driver’s return to F1.

“With Mick there were a lot of wrecked cars and a lot of headache, but he’s a nice kid,” he told talkSPORT at new Buffalo Trace distillery in London.

“Mick returning to F1? It’s perfectly fine with me.

“His uncle has said I don’t want him in F1, I’m sure if somebody wants him they know what they want out of him.

“I never said he’s a bad driver, but he needs an opportunity to show what he can do and I’m perfectly supportive of that.

“At the time I was there [at Haas] and we didn’t want him anymore, or we wanted to change, it was a change for the team. We wanted experience and that’s what we did, we brought experience in. You need time to gain that experience, and he didn’t have that time.

“I think we did the right thing then and if Mick gets the opportunity from somebody, good for him, you know?