Carlos Sainz Jnr, Ferrari, Baku City Circuit, 2022

Schumacher: New cars make 2022 not a “real second year” for me

2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Mick Schumacher does not consider his 2022 Formula 1 campaign as a “real second year” because the new generation of cars are so different to what he drove before.

He hade his debut last year but scored no points after the team abandoned development of their 2021 car to prioritise their all-new design for this season. However, Schumacher remains yet to score the first point of his career after the first seven races.

He suffered heavy crashes in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, tangled with Sebastian Vettel in Miami and crashed by himself again in Monaco last time out.

Schumacher lost control of his VF-22 at the Swimming Pool section on dry tyres on a still-damp circuit, crashing into the barriers and splitting his car in two. He said it happened despite the fact he was ‘taking it easy’ at the time.

“The whole track was quite damp at parts and some others were quite dry,” Schumacher explained. “We came a bit wide in turn 12, which cooled down the right-hand side, and then when going through chicane I actually took it easy for the conditions that there were and I just misplaced it a bit.

“I was just 10 centimetres on the wet patch, which then triggers a double wheelspin in that case because we have so much power, and that kind just threw the car into the half-spin. I tried to correct it and it goes off the other way.

“It was really odd because also the accident itself wasn’t in any way hard. To have it split in two again is quite unfortunate because obviously it’s a lot of damage in that case.”

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said he would need to have a “serious conversation” with his driver if Schumacher continued to sustain heavy accidents because they are running short on spare parts. Asked by RaceFans if he would need to take the limitations of the team’s budget into account with his driving over the rest of the season, Schumacher said “yes, definitely.”

Report: “Serious conversation” needed if Schumacher’s crashes continue – Steiner
“It does play a role in some ways,” he explained. “It’s just a matter of being a bit conservative with some of our parts, because you do end up running low on some stuff and. So we do look after our parts.”

This weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku will be the second consecutive race held on a street circuit. Schumacher doesn’t feel a need to rebuild his confidence after his latest crash.

“I mean, we go to a completely different track. And also if, let’s say, I would have gone back to Monaco now, it wouldn’t have been a problem. As racing drivers, we go through that from a young age and already in go-karting you go through these things and you just get back into it and set off where you stopped.”

Schumacher says that due to the dramatically different technical regulations for 2022, he feels he is having to learn more in his second season than an F1 driver would typically have to.

“There’s obviously the evaluation of risk and reward and we try to obviously be in the points and therefore we have to go into some sort of risk,” he said. “But it’s definitely something where I’ve just got to learn a bit more and understand a bit more.

“For me, I probably don’t consider it as a real second year, just because you start learning so much new stuff and the car is so different compared to last year as well. So it’s just a matter of building up that what I’ve learnt from last year and taking that into this year, but then just putting it into play for these circumstances.”

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2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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27 comments on “Schumacher: New cars make 2022 not a “real second year” for me”

  1. Tsunoda is laughing at you Mick. Do not embarrass yourself any further and just leave if all you have is silly excuses.

  2. Whatever Mick may or may not consider a “real second year”, it’s about time he put in some real “second year” performances.

    1. I agree. It is time for results.

  3. Bottas’s second year was 2014. He was all right in his “not real” second year. Does Schumacher have enough background (=money) to stay in F1 beyond this year? Or even till the end of this year if he keeps crashing millions every other weekend.

    1. @f1mre The 2014 technical rule changes weren’t anywhere near as considerable in magnitude as this year’s, so slightly apples to oranges.
      On the 2nd point, he should have, although I’m positive he’ll stop crashing & continues at Haas in the end.

    2. Don’t see how they can not have enough money, don’t forget they start from 800 mil before schumacher’s sky accident and the figures I’ve seen for the medical expenses don’t make a dent in that in many years.

  4. Coventry Climax
    9th June 2022, 18:47

    Keep crashing + not showing improvement …
    well, his cap say it all, doesn’t it?

    1. Coventry Climax
      9th June 2022, 18:49

      typo: ‘say’ should be ‘says’

    2. I think he isn’t going to make it I found it always strange he did only get results in the second year in the lower series.
      If he doesn’t improve soon and stop crashing i think this is his last year.

  5. Tsunoda is getting battered by his own teammate and is in no position to laugh at anyone, he should focus on stepping up his own game if he wants to have a future in F1 too.

    1. I think you have last season in mind at the moment Gasly is having problems….

  6. Worst legacy driver ever. Makes Bruno Senna seem as good as his uncle.

    1. Piquet Jnr?

      1. Piquet jr atleast knew when to crash.. lol

      2. Sure. I always forget about him.

      3. was he ever an F1 driver?

  7. He’s really starting to sound like he feels entitled to be there.

  8. If 2022 is Mick’s 1st year, then it’s the 1st year for everybody else as well, which doesn’t make him look any better, just on the contrary…

  9. ThreePurpleSectors (@)
    9th June 2022, 21:55

    Sorry but he is too soft for this world. You have to hade a slight edge for elite competition.

  10. Although I hope Michael is able to follow his son’s career it would be kinder if he weren’t aware of Mick’s current poor form.

  11. If i’m remembering his junior career correctly, he never adapted quickly to new cars so this isn’t that surprising. In time he’ll come around and be fine but that doesn’t bode will for his future prospects as top teams won’t be willing to be patient with him.

    1. RandomMallard
      10th June 2022, 11:09

      @lancer033 Yep you’re right there. Mick was never at the most competitive in his first season in the junior formula. He would usually need a second season before challenging (the exception being Italian F4 in 2016, in which he came second in his first season, despite skipping round 2). It took him two attempts at Euro F3 and Formula 2, which is quite a stark contrast to Leclerc, Russell, and Piastri, all of whom won both GP3/F3 and F2 at their first attempt.

  12. Further problem, for Mick, everything he is saying just makes K Mag look even better. Same new car, missed out on some testing and not in an F1 car for how long .. ???
    Don’t get me wrong, I want to see Haas up there fighting for best of the mid-field and that is both of the drivers.

    1. I don’t recall being overly impressed by Magnussen in seasons past so I wonder what a really solid driver could do in this car.

  13. I’m surprised by his excuse which isn’t one. Yes it’s not a “true second year” for him, but it’s also a first year for everyone else and erasing a big part of the experience gained by some drivers, a true opportunity for young drivers to show up. As anticipated, the new cars are also suiting some drivers better than others and we will have to see who can adapt and not, or if the car evolution might trigger some sudden jump in performance.

    When we look at Ric, Ham, Vet, it’s hard to believe they are driving the car to its full potential yet and Mick is being compared to Mag which has been away from the sport a while.

    Yesterday’s comment from Tsunoda and this one from Mick shows that the slow progress might be that they are not considering all the improvement areas that they should target. There is a big difference in attitude with the likes of Lec or Rus a few years back that could accept the blame and were focusing on improving and not repeating the same issues.

  14. Frankly, Mick isn’t good enough.
    To be so thoroughly shown up by Magnusson, who himself was never top tier and had a break before coming back to the new cars, is embarrassing.

    There are more deserving drivers out there.

  15. He knows he is in the place where he doesn’t want to be. He needs confidence and defending himself and missleading the press isn’t the way. He made a mistake and the easiest way to deal with the press is to accept it and head to the next race in a “I will beat my teammate and then beat the rest” mentality.

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