Mick Schumacher’s progress during his debut Formula 1 season has been somewhat of a “surprise”, admits Ferrari senior performance engineer Jock Clear.
Schumacher made the step up to F1 after clinching the Formula 2 title last year, earning a seat at Haas for his rookie campaign.
The German has consistently out-raced and out-qualified team-mate Nikita Mazepin during the first half of the year, scoring a best finish of 12th at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Over his junior career, Schumacher was famed for taking his time to adjust to a new series, but Clear said judging by his results so far that hasn’t been the case.
Asked if he was pleased with Schumacher’s progress since making his debut in Bahrain, Clear told the Beyond the Grid podcast: “Yes. And somewhat surprised.
“Obviously we’ve worked with him for quite a while now for Ferrari in the young drivers’ academy or the Ferrari Driver Academy. We’ve worked with him for a while and we know him quite well.
“I’m quite impressed with his out-and-out speed this year, to be honest. People said to me at the beginning of the year, ‘Yes but how’s he going to get on against Mazepin?’, and I said I wouldn’t be surprised if Mazepin starts off out-qualifying him a few times because Mick takes a while to get up to speed – but actually, not the case.”
Clear, who has worked at Ferrari since 2015 and now heads its driver academy, worked alongside Schumacher’s seven-time world champion father Michael at Mercedes during his three-year comeback.
When asked to compared the two, Clear revealed there is plenty of similarities that Schumacher shares with Michael both one and off the track.
“He’s so much like his dad in his mannerisms and his accent and that’s quite enjoyable in itself,” Clear said. “That reminds me of good days. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Michael.
“Mick is similarly such a pleasant young man to deal with. That’s not a given; there’s a lot of racing drivers, they are successful, they do what they do… Mick is just a very, very pleasant young man to deal with in every way. So, whatever he does in life, he’ll be very well served by just being a top bloke and getting on with people.”
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