Haas’ Mick Schumacher frustrated with race, immediately expressing anger as Mazepin experienced a full F1 weekend for the first time ever.
Schumacher’s crashed in the race following a spin on the front straight which wiped his nose off and meant he left an immediate impact on the race. After his accident, he admits, he drove with anger for the remainder of the Grand Prix.
With the pitlane closed thanks to debris from his own accident, Schumacher continued to lap the track with extensive damage before the obstructions were finally cleared. He continues to say he enjoys playing with someone else, with the German continuing to say of his own race that he performed well prior to the red flag.
“To be honest, I don’t really know what happened,” said Schumacher. “It went quite quickly, I just lost it and didn’t manage to recover it before the wall. I think my driving afterwards was quite driven by my anger – I don’t know if you saw it on the feed but I had a few lock-ups and went into the gravel and stuff.
“Overall, I think that’s something we have to learn from, to regroup myself a bit quicker. In general, I just think I wanted to catch up as quick as I could but unfortunately we were a few laps down. I think it was good to be able to drive with them, to get some info and feelings for how it is to follow [other cars].
“At some point, when I was on the C4 [soft tyres] just before the red flag, I felt actually very comfortable, to be close to overtaking Kimi. I think overall we learned a lot and it was very positive,” Schumacher shared.
Mazepin, who finished his first Grand Prix on Sunday, appreciated the complexity of his first full race. Having nearly been taken out by Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, the Russian says he believes he gave the Canadian adequate space.
“Definitely better than last time,” he said. “So much happened in this race, starting on the wets [before] the sunshine which was not long after the start, then the red flag – a lot happened, but it’s a good learning experiment.
“[Latifi] came back from the track, I think he knew I was there, and with these cars, if you go on the wet, you go to the wall. I stayed and gave him the room I had, I just don’t think he was aware of what happened,” summed up Mazepin.
Team boss Guenther Steiner was pleased to see both cars finishing the race, even though, they ended up two laps down. “We got two cars home in what was quite an eventful race with the changing weather conditions,” he said. “There were a few things thrown our way again but ultimately, we recovered and finished the race with both Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher at the checkered – which is good.
“That’s what I always want, that we do the laps, and that the guys learn. I want them to keep improving and especially for Nikita, it was good today that he finished the race after missing out in Bahrain. He now has a complete race under his belt. Mick did well to recover from the earlier part of his race.
“As much as it’s not the result that makes you happy, what makes you happy is that we made progress. That was our plan, and if we can continue to work like this – with less mistakes and more performance, that’s what we’re here for this year.”
Here’s how F1 Imola GP panned out
