Experts Marc Surer and Ralf Schumacher see no reason to worry after Mick Schumacher’s 2022 season opener
For Mick Schumacher, the Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain has been ambivalent. On the one hand, his 2022 Haas seems to be more competitive than hoped, as Kevin Magnussen’s fifth place proves. On the other hand, he ultimately lost the internal duel against his new teammate by a clear margin, half a second behind in qualifying and P11 in the race.
About Schumacher’s time gap throughout the weekend, Marc Surer was “a bit disappointed, given Magnussen’s less than optimal preparation for the season. But I think he was himself too,” said the expert in an interview on the YouTube channel of Formel1.de.
“The fact that he was missing so much is perhaps similar to some drivers who still don’t know how to drive a car like this to be really fast. He couldn’t test much. The car was broken all the time or arrived too late. He lacks the driving kilometres. “
Schumacher completed 979 kilometres in the two winter tests in Barcelona and Bahrain and was thus only 19th in the kilometre table. Magnussen finished 20th with 530 kilometres. By comparison, Carlos Sainz (2,077), George Russell (2,049) or Pierre Gasly (1,924) were able to test significantly more.
But Surer is convinced that Schumacher “learns very quickly. That is his strength. He usually started mediocre in the other classes, too, when a new formula came along, and then improved extremely. I expect him to catch up with Magnussen within a few races this year as well.”
Even Mick’s uncle Ralf Schumacher sees no reason to be worried about the performance after only one race weekend: “Mick was not so happy with the car all weekend. That can happen “
Magnussen’s performance has to be “acknowledged without envy”, the six-time Grand Prix winner thinks, “but especially in the race Mick was also unlucky. Once he got turned around and simply got wiped out. Then he had bad luck the second time. First the virtual safety car comes, and then he’s just past the pits when the real safety car comes. “
Consequence: Schumacher was unable to pit for a tyre change, was the only driver in the field with old Pirellis and was pushed through from P10 to P13 within a few laps as he fought Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso and Guanyu Zhou with blunt weapons.
“Everyone around him was able to change and then the issue was over,” his uncle regrets. But Ralf Schumacher is convinced: “With fresh tyres he definitely could have finished in the points.”
Not good. The editors gave him a 4 for his performance at the weekend, Surer a 5 and the 700 readers who voted gave him an average of 3.5.
