Schumacher still on ‘steep learning curve’ in debut F1 season

Mick Schumacher admits he is still on a “steep learning curve” in his rookie Formula 1 season, but feels his is improving as a driver as each race passes.

Schumacher graduated to F1 as the reigning Formula 2 champion, with his Ferrari academy links securing him a seat with engine customers Haas for this year.

Although racing in uncompetitive machinery, Schumacher’s performances haven’t gone unnoticed having out-raced team-mate Nikita Mazepin 9-2 during the first half of the campaign.

While Schumacher believes he has made steady progress race-by-race since his debut in Bahrain, he insists there is still plenty for him to learn going forward.

Reflecting on his first 11 races as a grand prix driver, Schumacher said, as quoted by RaceFans: “Personally I feel like it went fairly positive.

“I think that I managed to obviously steadily always improve and learn with every single grand prix. Obviously the steps, at some point, become smaller just because you maximise the most things in the beginning, because you learn with every grand prix a massive amount and then afterwards is basically fine tuning.

“So I definitely feel like I’m still on a very, very much steep learning curve, not only on track, but also off track.”

Schumacher’s standout performances so far this year have been his sole Q2 appearance at the French Grand Prix, and a season-best 12th in Hungary.

There has also been some low points for the German, in-particular his two costly shunts in third practice at both Monaco and the Hungaroring which ruled him out of participating in qualifying.

Schumacher went in to the season knowing Haas would be sacrificing this year to focus entirely on building its 2022 car ahead of next year’s all-new regulations, but is positive the team is going in the right direction.

“I feel that with every day of the year, I feel more and more comfortable in every circumstance,” Schumacher said. “And that’s really good and it’s positive. And especially with the work that we’ve been doing with the team, it’s really heading into the right direction.”