Formula 1: Mick Schumacher has arrived in Formula 1

It was a wild weekend for Mick Schumacher in Spielberg, Austria, but at the end of the day one realization remains: The 23-year-old has finally arrived in Formula 1.

“I am completely satisfied”, said Schumacher after the race on Sunday (07/10/22). With sixth place, the son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher achieved the best result of his career. Thanks to eight additional points, he overtook two drivers in the World Championship standings – even though he was only able to collect his first World Championship points last weekend at Silverstone.

“Mick rode great”, Mercedes Motorsport boss Toto Wolff praised the performance of the Haas driver. With the Mercedes, especially that of Lewis Hamilton, Schumacher had a lot to fight in the race on Sunday, but even more so in the sprint on Saturday. “He defended well and always on the sporting side. I’m happy to see that.”added Wolff.

Sixth place – and ahead of teammate Magnussen

That the Haas ultimately couldn’t quite keep up with the Mercedes’ is not surprising. Hamilton finished on the podium for the second time in a row, his team-mate George Russell finished fourth despite a crash on lap one. Behind Esteban Ocon in the strong Alpine – and then Schumacher. In front of Lando Norris in the McLaren (7th) and above all in front of his teammate Kevin Magnussen (8th).

It had looked different on Saturday (07/09/22) when Schumacher, in the sprint qualifying practiced on some race weekends since last season, was significantly faster than Magnussen, but the team did not give any order to swap places in favor of the strategy . To the annoyance of Schumacher, who ultimately lost out to Hamilton and did not score an additional point in ninth place.

Several overtaking maneuvers succeeded

Undeterred by this, Schumacher drove an almost perfect race, fought again with Hamilton right after the start and passed the Mercedes. After the midfield had got mixed up a bit due to pit stops and different race strategies, there were flawless overtaking maneuvers against Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) and teammate Magnussen, who let the faster car do its thing fairly and did not insist on the battle line. The fans even chose Schumacher as “Driver of the Day” via online voting.

Team boss Günther Steiner congratulated him on the pit radio shortly after crossing the finish line: “Great job. Fantastic race. Thank you. Happy for you and the team.“Schumacher himself then spoke of “a run”, which they have at Haas right now. Eighth and tenth place at Silverstone, sixth and eighth in Austria. This is a run for a team that, after not having a chance last year, started this season with great ambitions, but recently got lost in internal discussions and, compared to the competition, only made updates to the car at the race in Hungary in late summer present. Highly unusual in Formula 1.

Recently a lot of criticism for Schumacher

When criticizing this, Steiner repeatedly refers to the budget, but at the same time did not skimp on criticism, especially of Schumacher. He had caused serious accidents in both Saudi Arabia and Monaco and almost completely dismantled the car. The damage is said to have amounted to more than one million euros in both cases. After the crash in Monaco, Schumacher was even publicly counted by Steiner, results were needed. After all, both Haas pilots are also looking at new contracts for the coming season.

As the engine supplier for the US team, Ferrari has a say in driver selection. For this reason alone, Schumacher, who has been in the Ferrari junior program for years, is given a good chance of a new working paper.

In its current form, the discussions about it should have already ended. Because at the latest in Silverstone and Spielberg it became clear: Mick Schumacher does not drive in Formula 1 because of his last name, but because he has the talent for the premier class.