15th on track but 20th on the grid: An engine penalty undoes a solid qualifying for Mick Schumacher at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. According to the Haas driver, he was “positively surprised” to have survived the first segment. However, because he uses superfluous drive components, he has to go all the way to the back.
But Schumacher is not depressed because of that. On the contrary: “It went better than expected,” says the German. “We actually expected to be eliminated in Q1.”
And it was very close: Schumacher beat his German compatriot Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin by just 0.002 seconds in Q1, who retired in 16th place in Q1. Schumacher, on the other hand, was allowed to continue qualifying without gaining any more positions.
But the Haas driver has an explanation for this: “In Q2 we tried a few new things because it would have been a miracle if we had made it in Q3. But the things we tried didn’t work .” The bottom line is that his conclusion is still “positive”, says Schumacher.
Haas team boss Steiner praises Schumacher
He refers to the third free practice, in which he “didn’t drive much” due to technical problems, and says: “On Friday evening I had completed my last lap with little fuel. So I came into qualifying and didn’t know what to expect . The track was very different. But my impression is: we managed it quite well.”
Haas team boss Günther Steiner sees it that way too. He praises Schumacher for his “very good” commitment in Q1, “even without qualifying simulation in third free practice”.
However, Steiner would have expected a little more from Schumacher in Q2: “He misbraked in turn 1 and that was the end of it,” said Steiner. “On the one hand I’m surprised to have come this far, on the other hand I’m obviously disappointed to have the performance but not implement it.”
The latter can also be understood as a criticism of Schumacher teammate Kevin Magnussen, who had already had to retire in Q1 in 18th place. Steiner: “Kevin braked badly in turn 8 in Q1 and then drove into turn 12 or 13 too quickly. He fell out with that.”
Magnussen himself admits “a few mistakes” and says: “Unfortunately everyone seems to have improved again, so it would have come down to the second round. I don’t know if we would have had the speed.”
Magnussen starts ahead of Schumacher
Compared to Schumacher, Magnussen lost 0.215 seconds to the sister car in Q1, thus dealing with the third qualifying defeat in a direct duel after Melbourne and Miami. But due to Schumacher’s punitive transfer, Magnussen still starts ahead of his Haas colleague.
“Hopefully we’ll have better pace in the race,” says the Dane. “There always seems to be a chance at Spa. I’m looking forward to that.”
Steiner thinks similarly and confirms that Magnussen, coming from P12, “still has a chance of scoring points”, while it should be much trickier for Schumacher from P20. Tenor: “Catching up is difficult, but never say never.”
Schumacher, in turn, does not expect an overtaking show in the Haas VF-22. Reason: “Our top speed isn’t that great. Overtaking will probably be difficult for us. Nevertheless, our pace on the long runs wasn’t wrong. If we get everything right, then we should be able to keep going.”
“Compared to other cars, we probably have more air resistance. But yes, we have to live with what we have. After all, we made it into Q2,” says Schumacher. “That means we’ve beaten some faster cars. Hopefully we can [auch im Rennen] move forward.”