In the first Formula 1 race of the new season in Bahrain, Mick Schumacher narrowly missed out on his first World Championship points, which is why he is disappointed after the race
Haas driver Mick Schumacher narrowly missed out on his first Formula 1 World Championship point with an eleventh place finish at the Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain, while teammate Kevin Magnussen managed a sensational fifth place.
After the race, the German was visibly disappointed: “It’s a shame it didn’t work out. Overall it was a difficult day as we had more pace. Kevin did a huge job though, so I’m happy for the team.”
In the opening stages, Schumacher initially managed to move up two positions to tenth before being spun by Esteban Ocon at turn five. “Unfortunately I had the contact on the first lap, but still got the car straight with an elegant spin. But the tyres were gone after that,” said Schumacher.
No grudge against Ocon
However, he is not angry with culprit Ocon, who had to serve a five-second penalty for his offence during the first pit stop. “It’s always tight on lap one because we’re here to race,” says Schumacher.
It was an unusual place to overtake, but “that’s how most overtaking happens, when you don’t expect it”. Afterwards, Schumacher also braked a few times, which “made the tyres more cross than round”.
There doesn’t seem to have been any obvious damage to the VF-22 after the spin, but afterwards the car “didn’t feel good” for Schumacher.
Confidence for upcoming races
“Kevin was able to set crazy times while I couldn’t, so I have to understand if it was me or the car,” the German is at a loss.
Nevertheless, he is happy for the whole Haas team: “It’s incredible. When I was driving, I heard the whole team through the team radio. That gives me confidence that we can be consistently in the points and then hopefully with both cars.”
He is confident about the upcoming races as it “shouldn’t be too difficult” to get a grip on the problems. “There is still a lot of untapped potential in the car,” says the Haas driver, who hopes to be in the top-5 soon.
Ralf Schumacher: “Mick must stretch now “
Team boss Günther Steiner shows understanding for Schumacher’s performance: “It was close with Mick, he struggled a bit at the beginning. He’s in a good position now, because he can now analyse and see what he can do better and then he will definitely finish in the points.”
At the same time, Steiner stresses that “the air is getting thinner up here” now that the German has a competitive car.
Schumacher gets support from his uncle Ralf: “The situation with Ocon was stupid, after that the car was certainly no longer perfect. Then he was also unlucky with the safety car phase, because he couldn’t stop again and was therefore only a victim.”
The Sky expert thinks the current situation in the team is beneficial: “Mick has to stretch a bit now, but that’s part of it. That’s exactly what a young driver needs and what he can orientate himself on. In the end, it was a bad weekend for him, but he will learn a lot from it. “
