Mick: We showed potential of the car, and drivers

Michelle Foster
Mick Schumacher standing on the grid. Miami May 2022.

Mick Schumacher standing on the grid before the Miami Grand Prix. Miami May 2022.

Mick Schumacher’s Austrian Grand Prix weekend went from disappointment in the sprint to celebrating his best ever F1 finish with P6 in the grand prix.

After his early-season troubles, which included two huge accidents, Schumacher found a turn of pace at the Canadian Grand Prix where he put his VF-22 up in sixth place on the grid, his best qualifying showing ever.

But while that race ended in a DNF, the German retiring while running in the top 10, it has kick-started a purple patch for the driver.

Schumacher scored his first F1 points at the British GP, P8, and followed up with sixth place at the Red Bull Ring.

It went from disappointment in Saturday’s sprint, where he was overtaken in the closing laps by Lewis Hamilton to miss out on a point, to bringing home eight points in Sunday’s grand prix.

“Saturday I was disappointed because as a team we missed points, and every point in Formula 1 counts,” he said.

“I was just a little upset because we didn’t get the point.”

But his misery turned to joy on Sunday when he worked his way up from ninth on the grid to sixth at the chequered flag.

“I had a lot of confidence in the car,” he explained. “The tyres didn’t last as long as we expected, so we switched to a two-stop strategy.

“But I think my pace was good – an important goal at the start of the weekend.”

Up to 12 points in the Drivers’ Championship, Schumacher is now P15 on the log.

“That’s great,” he said. “It would have been more if I had finished seventh at Silverstone. But no joke, it’s a great result for the team.

“We scored points with both cars again for the second time in a row. We hadn’t counted on it. It’s a refreshing change.”

With Kevin Magnussen P8 in Austria, Haas’ back-to-back double points haul was even more impressive, and unexpected given the team are racing the same VF-22 they ran on the final day of pre-season testing.

Haas are the only team yet to update their car.

“We showed the potential of the car, and of the drivers,” said the 23-year-old.

“I think we know what it takes to be fast with this car. We had a fast car at the start of the season.

“Others came with updates and we might have lost a bit with the set-up.

“But then we came anyway back out for a good set-up and others have started to struggle with their package.”

 

Highlights from the Austrian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc took his first win in eight races, and Ferrari definitely needed it.