Schumacher elated ‘to even think about Q3’ after qualifying 14th

Mick Schumacher reached Q2 for the second time in his rookie season during qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix.

But unlike on the previous occasion in the French Grand Prix, where he crashed at the end of Q1, Schumacher was able to set a time in Q2, and ultimately qualified 14th for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“We got to drive this one, fortunately,” he said. “So I’m happy to do that, to be able to get the chance to even think about Q3.

“I know it’s far-fetched, but […] it would have been great to have that opportunity. The car felt great. We, as a team, I think did a really good job. I’m just, really, really happy right now.”

Schumacher finished 14th in Q1, between the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel – but crucially above the cut line in the session, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in his McLaren.

“We had one lap that we had left to try and make it. We know we had the opportunity because the lap before, I think, was not too bad. And I knew that there were still some time in it, because I wasn’t one hundred percent happy with my lap before.

“But then that one lap that I had, I think we really managed to get the most out of it.

“And obviously, once we crossed the line and I heard Gary [Gannon] open the radio, and I heard the cheering in the background, I think that things were good, and looked good. So I think, overall, we’re happy.”

On his final flying lap in Q2 Schumacher was baulked by Stroll, who had gone wide at turn one and rejoined the track ahead of Schumacher – who had to slow down in response. Although he doubted he could have reached Q3, Yuki Tsunoda’s performance showed it might have been possible.

“Taking into consideration that George [Russell] had a mistake in the last corner and he was on a very good lap, I don’t know how much further I would have gone [in Q2],” he admitted.

“But I think that if I probably would have had my last lap, I probably improved by two or three tenths – not knowing how much the track evolution was, but just by pure driving improvements.

“I think definitely there was some in it, so I don’t know if it was possible. I think Yuki just slid in with with the C4 [soft tyre] if I’m not wrong. I think we were quite levelled with Yuki FP2 in Q2. Maybe it wasn’t that far, after all, but still, I think that we just didn’t didn’t have the tyre at that time to probably do the biggest jump as we were hoping for.”

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