Mick Schumacher admits Monaco crash bit him hard as he continues to learn, plus adds on inspecting cars in parc ferme and the F1 team bonding.
Haas’ Schumacher has been living with a slight baptism of fire, but so far he has done not too badly in his rookie F1 season. He probably has the upperhand on his teammate in terms of results. But speaking of shunts, the German has had his fare share of them too.
The Haas car of 2020 – being used in 2021 too – is certainly difficult to handle, but Schumacher has been able to do a bit better job than Nikita Mazepin. Perhaps, the lowest, he felt was in Monaco, which was significant as it put him out of qualifying, where a crash in FP2 was followed by a more significant shunt in FP3.
As a rookie, Schumacher wants and needs to make an impression on team personnel from more leading constructors. Among the mistakes from his side, he reckons the Monaco was more tough on him than in France, where he eventually made it into Q2, but couldn’t start.
“I think mistakes are part of a learning process,” said Schumacher, when asked by FormulaRapida.net about his crashes. “If you want to go into Q2 you have to try and find those limits. Obviously if you are so close to the limit it’s very easy to make a mistake. In France, it got close to the wall which was unfortunate, in Monaco, I think anybody that drove there would say, it is tough.
“I don’t want to justify anything, all I am saying is that basically is all part of a learning process. Obviously mistakes are hard sometimes, Monaco especially bit me hard, but nonetheless we see a constant improvement,” summed up Schumacher. Looking at the situation, it is not so much the German has mastered the car, but has learnt to cope with same, live with it and get on with it.
Team principal Guenther Steiner said that he is able to focus on turning the car in and can live with the instability of it. He is growing step-by-step and something he’s doing to expand on it is looking at the cars in parc ferme – much like his mentor Sebastian Vettel.
An onboard from Styrian GP surfaced of Schumacher studying the McLaren car in parc ferme has come to light. When asked by FormulaRapida.net, if it is something he does often and what sort of learning he can take it to his team, the German said it is like an ‘open book’, especially the tyres, which shows a lot of what a driver does.
“It’s something I have been doing since karting really,” said Schumacher. “It is always good to know, especially how the tyres look on other cars, and to see if I can understand and learn from that, because tyres are like an open book. They will show you every little mistake and every little detail of the cars and my car.
So, I guess inspecting other cars is always a part and I will for sure keep doing that. Plus, parc ferme is when I would get closest to another car. I can’t walk in anybody’s garage and say, ‘Hi there, I am just going to check out your car and then leave’. So, definitely, it is interesting to look at it,” summed up Schumacher.
Interestingly too, Schumacher has spoken quite maturely and candidly about his time working with his new team and surroundings. His work ethic has been lauded and between the races in Styria and Austria, he found time to spend with his team, something which cannot happen often due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
It is also a change at Haas, with mostly English mechanics, as opposed to having mostly Italian personnel over the last few seasons at Prema in his junior career. He has taken like a duck to water working with his team-members and new culture almost.
“I was very happy to be able to spend some time with them and play some football, have a Bar B Q together, watch some football together,” said Schumacher, when asked by FormulaRapida.net. “That’s very valuable time to me. And yeah, it’s time well spent and I really missed that especially at the beginning of the year, but nonetheless the bonding was very strong from the beginning.
“I felt very well integrated to begin with and yeah the change in nationality in terms of the working group, but still I enjoy working with those but I’m just really happy where I am at and I am looking to the future which will brighten up in terms of performance wise,” summed up Schumacher.
The German is getting better each weekend. His name has been mentioned with a move to Alfa Romeo, as well, for 2022 but for now what he needs to do is concentrate on the job he doing at Haas, with his target being to secure a point for his team.
The story was co-written by Neil Farrell
Here’s video of Mick Schumacher checking the McLaren: https://twitter.com/F1/status/1409224511048744960?s=20
Here’s Mick Schumacher topic with regards to Haas and Alfa Romeo
Here’s Guenther Steiner on corner entry issue troubling Nikita Mazepin than Mick Schumacher