Mick Schumacher is preparing for his second season in Formula 1. The son of record champion Michael Schumacher, due to the fact that the Haas F1 car was not competitive enough, had a rather invisible debut year at the highest level. Schumacher Jr. let it be known that he is patient.
For a driver, it will be frustrating not to be able to show what you are capable of. That can start to gnaw, but Schumacher says he knows how to deal with it pretty well. He sees 2021 as a learning year, even though he was not able to compete for the points. He did have personal highlights by reaching Q2 twice.
From Auto, Motor und Sport Schumacher is asked if he dares to say that in another car he would be just as fast or perhaps faster than a driver currently in the cockpit there. The German replies in a neat way, "Everyone deserves their place in Formula 1. Everyone can drive here. You only know if you can win a race in a Mercedes when you are actually in it. It would be arrogant to say so [that he would perform better than some of his fellow competitors]."
Schumacher, part of the Ferrari junior program, is stuck with Haas F1 until the end of this calendar year. The intention is that the 22-year-old driver will eventually make to the main force from Maranello, but with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, the Italians are fried for now. At Alfa Romeo, Ferrari's other customer team, there are two newcomers this year with Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas, so options there too seem limited for after 2022.
For Schumacher, it is therefore to be hoped that his American employer will have his affairs in order for 2022. Last year was seen as an interim year, as no improvements were made compared to 2020. The focus was entirely on understanding the new regulations and, based on that, putting a competitive car on the grid for this season. In any case, the team of Guenther Steiner has already successfully passed the crash test.
Very level headed,even mature approach.....contrast that against his team mate.....
Mick is acually saying he does not know if he is good enough to win in a Mercedes until he is actually in a Mercedes. Meaning he acknowledges the team to be the best in F1 but that does not mean he can win in a Mercedes for saying he can win in a Mercedes is arrogant.
With Sainz re-signing soon with Ferrari / Schumacher is basically stuck at Haas or at best a Alpha in the next few years.
Maybe he sits in the Mercedes very soon , I think it is hard to drive a formula one car with your eyes full of tears.
Even Schumacher could win in a Mercedes, true. You need to give a lot of credit to Merc as they have managed to build the most dominant car for years already. Yes, they had a head start, but still….
I think one must not underestimate that "head start"...! While everybody (!) was busy trying to "fix" their engines (as in: desperately trying to reach only half the level of development that Merc had achieved, since they, conveniently, started developing 2 years before ANYBODY else - and 2 years in F1 is basically potentially 2 whole ERAS!), Merc could spend their time dabbling around Luxury developments like DAS, flexible rear wings, moving suspensions... That's all totally, especially since Merc had those developments exclusively and didn't need to fear to be outinnovated by ANYONE...! No other team really ever recovered from that "head start" of Mercedes' to really compete with them; arguably Honda did it, but they poured in billions and it took them a decade (!!!) to make it work...! The new regs should be much more fun: the engines somewhat on par (Merc still clearly strongest though), now it's time for the Neweys of the world to show their talent! The engineers and aerodynamicists will have worked extra extra EXTRA hours these last few months ;) Can't wait for the results!!