Mick relished mastering tough conditions in Q2 run

Henry Valantine
Mick Schumacher drives in the wet. Istanbul October 2021.

Mick Schumacher drives his Haas around a wet Istanbul Park. Turkey October 2021.

Mick Schumacher was delighted with his run to Q2 in Turkey, saying he took the approach of sticking to what he knows and “just drive”.

The Haas racer took advantage of the changing track conditions to put his car into the second part of qualifying – knocking out Daniel Ricciardo in the process – and out-qualifying his team-mate Nikita Mazepin by almost three full seconds in the session.

Unlike his other Q2 appearance in France, Schumacher was able to compete on this occasion, putting himself within four tenths of earning a place in Q3 – and the German rookie was ecstatic on the team radio when told he had got through.

“Yeah, it was definitely great. Those tricky conditions were fun to drive. I just enjoyed it and I kind of did what I did best, which is just drive,” he told the official Formula 1 website.

“I think we as a team took the right decisions at the right time. We have analysed it properly, we went through all the steps we usually do, but we just seem to have found the right set-up for the right conditions.

“It went well from FP1, a very nice feeling on track with the car so I’m just really happy right now.”

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While he showed his competitiveness in Q2, Schumacher was unable to set a final flying lap to try and improve again on his personal best after Lance Stroll had brought out the yellow flags at the wrong time when spinning out at Turn 1 – but the Haas driver was relatively sanguine about that moment.

“Yeah, those things happen,” he said. “You know if you wait for the last lap, those things can happen. I’m just really happy we managed to get to drive and get to show our performance.

“I think maybe we even had a tenth or two there, and it would be closer to judge.”

 

Regarding the race, he will have several drivers in quicker machinery starting behind him and admitted forcing his way into the points would be the “dream” outcome on Sunday, but said he and his team will take things step by step in the race.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to move forwards and be in the points – that’s the dream. How far can this become reality? We’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

“But definitely we’ll analyse properly, see what we can do for tomorrow and we’ll just go from there.”

 

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