Guenther Steiner says F1 Hungarian GP shows what Mick Schumacher is capable of after his brief fights, as the German talks about the experience.
The F1 Hungarian GP started out on a good note for Haas and Schumacher, with the German finishing P17 and P18 in FP1 and FP2, respectively. Unfortunately, Saturday’s FP3 was not as lucky for the German, as he crashed out on a flying lap at Turn 11.
The irreversible damage to the gearbox and it’s ultimate replacement saw a five place grid penalty for the Haas while trying to fix up the car in hopes of making it into qualifying. Schumacher ended up starting at the back of the grid for Sunday’s race as the car was not out in time for qualifying.
Starting from the back, there was not much expected in terms of results for Schumacher and the team, but the unbelievable circumstances at Hungaroring made for the German’s best race and result this season – which included some solid fights.
After the Turn 1 incident that left five cars retired, Schumacher was left in P10 starting from the pitlane, and ending his race with a commendable P13. Team Principal, Steiner, commented on how well the German did in contention with the championship leaders and how this race was one of the best for the team.
After some heavy words on Saturday, Steiner noted that this is how they wish to see Schumacher and or Nikita Mazepin in the races, to fight out as much as possible. “That shows what he’s capable of, and this is the things he needs to do and he did very well,” he said to media including FormulaRapida.net. Actually it was the most enjoyable race we had this year for us on the pitwall.”
The P10 re-start was Schumacher’s best position on the grid on a Sunday race and one that was exceptionally battled in order to try and maintain. He twice fought against Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – which included a touch between the two too. He had Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo too for company.
The first fight against Verstappen came on Lap 15, which saw them going wheel to wheel and elbows out in an amazing duel for P10 and a point. He was also passed by Hamilton just after that. Another one with Verstappen came on Lap 35 with Ricciardo in frame too, which dropped him to P12.
After a heavy Saturday, Schumacher himself was very impressed with how well he was able to race against the top guys, and how he held them back for longer than he thought he would’ve. “Being able to fight everybody and also fight the top guys, I was very happy that I had the opportunity to be in that position,” said Schumacher to TV media.
“I wasn’t anticipating holding them off that long, but I was glad that I was able to. Able to also get the opportunity to fight with the top guys, I mean I was fighting with Max twice on the road. Being able to make my experiences in that pace, and you know feel the pressure, and not crack under pressure,” summed up Schumacher.
The perspective from Steiner on Schumacher’s race battles in Hungary is one that leaves the German open for more. The team principal believes that whenever an opportunity for racing is available to either Haas drivers, they should take it and race as best and as hard as they can, even if they race each other.
“If I tell them to go in a line that is not sport,” said Steiner, whose main priority is for Schumacher and Mazepin learn from all the battles they have – even if it is against each other. Gaining experience and craftsmanship is what he hopes for the German.
“In a race, even if it’s the race between teammates, as long as they don’t come into each other, I want them to race because that is when you learn,” said Steiner. “Overall, there’s a lot of good things in the first part of the season, you just have to take them and just do more of it in the second half and learn out of what we achieve in the first part of the season.”
The article was written by Selena Aburas
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