Schumacher bagged his first points but must make gains in qualifying

2022 F1 team mate battles: Schumacher vs Magnussen

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Which Formula 1 driver has the best run of results against his team mate in qualifying 13 rounds into the season? Kevin Magnussen.

Over the eight-race stretch which began at the Spanish Grand Prix, Magnussen hasn’t been out-qualified by his team mate once. For Mick Schumacher, this is a sharp reversal of the situation he enjoyed last year, where he invariably had the beating of Nikita Mazepin.

Clearly Schumacher was being flattered by his fellow rookie team mate last year. It’s to be expected that the considerably more experienced Magnussen would hold the upper hand over Schumacher, who is still tackling some F1 tracks for the first time.

Schumacher made a faltering start to his season, set back by heavy crashes in Jeddah and Monaco. He’s responded well since then, and should have bagged the first points of his career in Canada where he was running seventh in the early stages before suffering a power unit failure. His luck finally changed over the next two races, where he joined Magnussen in delivering double points finishes for Haas.

On race day, Schumacher has often been closer to Magnussen’s pace. This doesn’t tell the full story of why his 11-2 qualifying deficit flips to a 7-2 superiority in finishing positions when both drivers reach the chequered flag. Magnussen’s had some breaks go against him, not least a pair of black-and-orange flags which spoiled his Sundays in Canada and Hungary.

However, Schumacher has given a good account of himself in other races. He had strong pace in Austria and made sure the team knew about it, repeatedly urging them to invoke tactics from the pit wall during the sprint race.

Magnussen shored up useful points finishes early in the year, which gives him the upper hand on points. As a result in the last race, at the Hungaroring, Magnussen was the only one of the two drivers to run Haas’s extensively updated VF-22.

The team were already in competitive shape before then, and if the update successfully addresses some of the car’s weaknesses more points should follow in the second half of the season. If Schumacher can continue his upward trend on Sunday, and shore up his Saturday deficit, he has every opportunity to close the deficit and even overturn it in the second half of 2022.

Schumacher vs Magnussen season summary

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Schumacher vs Magnussen race-by-race

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Schumacher vs Magnussen qualifying performance

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Schumacher bagged his first points but must make gains in qualifying”

  1. I think Schumacher just has to be in competition with Magnussen all the way through the year and he’d secure a drive for next year on merit. You can write off the Mazepin year as pointless as he’ll have learned nothing off having him as a teammate. I think working with Magnusson should stand him good stead to beat him next year and that will ultimately be the barometer of whether he stays in F1 long term. I hope Hass give Magnussen another year if he wants it but part of me thinks they’ll chase a pay driver.

    1. I’m not so sure about that. With Magnussen they have gained points and are currently 7th and if they can maintain that position, will end up with tens of millions in prize money. A lot more than a pay driver brings – remember, last year they ended up with 0 points. Better results will also bring more sponsors, adding further to the pot.
      It makes a lot more sense to retain KMag (who also seems to be liked by the team) than to chase some billionaire’s son dream.

    2. @slowmo Magnussen has a “multi year” contract with Haas already, so at least for next year he’ll be driving.

      I do hope that they retain him longer, the 2 rookies situation doesn’t always work so well, and if SCH isn’t at least matching MAG by end of next year it’s a bit of a risk.

  2. Mick has finished races ahead of Magnussen. But never on merrit. Reliability, poor strategy, reduced engine mode to just make it home, the black and orange flags mentioned in the article, etc. has been reasons each time Mick have finished ahead.

    As for the 11-2 qualifying results…
    In Australia where Mick qualified ahead of Kevin, stroll had a big crash in the end of Q1, and Kevin was caught in traffic when they resumed.
    In Miami, the other instance where Mick qualified ahead, Kevins radio didn’t work, and they did one long run instead of the usual two shorts, as they couldn’t communicate about when to come in.

    Mick has never really shown anything. Yes he had a bad car last year, but so did Kevin and Grosjean in 2020 and they both made a point scoring finish. He has crashed two cars big time this year (and last year too). He hasn’t finished ahead on merrit. And he is lucky qualifying result isn’t 13-0.

    Why so many thinks Mick should be retained, whereas many thinks Riccardo with a lot more and a lot better results to show should stop, I cannot understand. There must be a lot “Schumacher name momentum” for many.

    1. P6 in Austria was about the best result possible with Haas on that circuit, that was one hell of a good performance from Mick.
      Silverstone was good too, an was very good in Canada & Miami before a techinical issue and an incident with Seb.
      There’s a clear improvement in his racecraft, he’s very close to Magnussen on race trim, but he needs to pick up the pace in quali.
      I think he’s showing potential to become a good solid driver. Not a superstar, but there are only a few nowdays in F1.

  3. Coventry Climax
    15th August 2022, 19:34

    Can you explain this to me:
    “It’s to be expected that the considerably more experienced Magnussen would hold the upper hand over Schumacher, who is still tackling some F1 tracks for the first time.”
    In my opinion, it is to be expected of any driver, in order to at least be considered ‘decent’, that he manages to keep up with his teammate. For a driver to be considered exceptional, you would expect him/her to beat the teammate on a frequent basis, in both qualifying and on raceday, even with less experience.
    Mick Schumacher has done neither. It’s not like he’s in his first year in F1. He has not shown any exceptional driving sofar, in any of the classes he raced in. The sudden turn that made him F2 champion is, to me, still very dubious.
    Nice guy, but that’s it. Next driver please. The only difference with Latifi is the name, certainly not the quality.

    1. Mick does seem like a genuinely nice guy, which is a credit to his parents given that he grew up as, well, the son of Michael Schumacher. But on track there’s just been nothing special. Maybe not even enough to justify keeping the seat, but certainly not to move to a better team. Special talents who made their debuts at poor teams – like Alonso and Leclerc – or (lower) midfield teams – like Vettel, Verstappen and Räikkönen – all showed immediate promise and some unusually good results. Mick Schumacher hasn’t done any of that.

      It’s actually quite surprising how the F1 fortunes of Germany have changed. Ten years ago you had guys like Glock, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Hülkenberg on the grid and races at the Nürburgring and Hockenheimring. With Vettel on the way out, next season might not even feature a single German-born driver (Mick was born in Switzerland, for obvious reasons) nor a German Grand Prix, with the thoroughly English Mercedes outfit as a mere German-in-name participant.

  4. The head to head graphic shows Schumacher beat Magnussen in the Saudi race. Unless I’m very much mistaken, Schumacher didn’t even start that race, so?

  5. I don’t rate Magnussen too highly. He’s an average qualifier and just an aggressive racer on Sundays, not necessarily a fast raceday driver with great racecraft. So, for Magnussen to thrash Schumacher as badly as he’s doing, means Schumacher really doesn’t have enough potential to even make it to a good midfield team.

    I think Haas could do better with its drivers. There’s one average driver in Kevin and below average driver with a famous second name. They should look at poaching Ricciardo for next season, he won’t be worse than Mick.

    1. In my opinion he’s a solid qualifyer and a top tier starter. His problems seems to be an inability to pick the right battles and poor tire management ( particularly the rear inner one it seems). I rate him in the top half, actually. I’d love to see him in a decent car with a team that can set the rear up to his style….

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