Schumacher needs ’pressure and criticism’ - Marko

Red Bull is keeping an eye on Mick Schumacher’s progress, Dr Helmut Marko has admitted.

Until very recently, speculation the 23-year-old son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher could lose his seat at Haas was rife due to poor performance and a spate of crashes.

However, his maiden points at Silverstone, coinciding with a general overall improvement in form in Austria, mean the young German is back on Red Bull’s radar for the future.

"Without the technical defect in Montreal, he would have finished in the points there too," Marko, the head of Red Bull’s notorious junior driver program, told ntv.

"The beginnings are there now - apparently he really needs all of that pressure and criticism, then it works.

"It runs through his career and was similar in Formula 3," he added.

"When it started to get critical, he suddenly became the winning driver race after race. Similar things happened in Formula 2 as well so it is apparently part of his development work."

However, there are signs that Haas boss Gunther Steiner and even Ferrari are losing patience with Schumacher - which may explain Marko’s suddenly renewed interest.

"We generally follow young drivers," Marko said when asked if Red Bull may have an eye on Schumacher.