Mick Schumacher’s response to questions about his Formula 1 future has been increasingly impressive.
Finishing sixth in the Austrian Grand Prix marked a second successive points finish and the new best result of his fledgling career. He has found the level needed to establish himself in F1 and with that has come more confidence and ambition.
The pattern in his junior career was to kick on in the second season of a category. But we hadn’t seen that at the start of his second F1 season. And it may partly be because he had a little bit of a false rookie season in Formula 1 and did not learn a great deal beyond the basics of driving and racing an F1 car.
He wasn’t doing an awful lot of actual racing last year, he wasn’t driving under pressure very much, he wasn’t fighting for points, he wasn’t having to manage crucial elements through a race. So there were a lot of new tests at the start of this year and he didn’t pass all of them.
Schumacher had shown flashes but was still yet to piece together a complete weekend. And even though he scored his first points in the British Grand Prix, that doesn’t count as a complete weekend because the pace wasn’t there in qualifying.
But his race weekend at the Red Bull Ring was different. He qualified well, did a good job in the sprint, and his grand prix is probably best described as ‘efficient’ – although that may sound underwhelming and do him a disservice.
The most impressive moment was after he emerged from his first pitstop and had been undercut by both McLarens, plus had some long-running midfield cars up ahead. This could have derailed Schumacher’s grand prix. It’s very easy to get stuck in such scenarios.
He was excellent at responding to this, though. Schumacher passed Daniel Ricciardo quickly, and judged a difficult situation well when team-mate Kevin Magnussen made it three-wide up ahead into Turn 1. Schumacher was at the back of a multi-car train charging up the hill and as these cars all fanned out he had to be decisive with his car positioning.
The decision was smart. Schumacher opted against charging down the inside and instead went left, passing Zhou Guanyu around the outside and immediately getting onto the back of Fernando Alonso, who he passed one lap later.
Regaining the position he had lost to Lando Norris in the pitstops came next and this was done with minimal fuss, then he spent a few laps catching Magnussen and passed him into the penultimate corner after the Dane ran wide in the middle of the lap.
It wasn’t a perfect drive to the flag from there but few are at the Red Bull Ring, where it’s all too easy to get a sudden snap running too wide onto one of the exit kerbs.
Schumacher actually noted this after he was able to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time world champion had a wild moment exiting the first corner in the opening stint.
“The main thing that I learned is that everybody’s human, everybody makes mistakes,” said Schumacher.
“That’s important to me to know that and not be afraid about fighting with anyone.”
The reference to fear in battle is interesting because aggression is something Schumacher still needs to work on. His main misjudgement in this race was letting Lance Stroll come back at him on older tyres instead of being more ruthless.
A slow second pitstop had dropped Schumacher behind Stroll and the recovering George Russell, so instead of starting his long final stint with a small gap to manage to the Mercedes he lost time trying to clear a stubborn Aston Martin instead.
Schumacher got ahead of Stroll into the first corner but didn’t cover the inside up the hill so Stroll, racing for very little, threw a lunge down the inside and got past again. It didn’t transform Schumacher’s race but it was the only notable self-inflicted complication, one he will likely reflect on and seek to avoid a repeat of in the future.
His awareness and consideration was already evident this weekend with how he handled the fight with team-mate Magnussen.
Both drivers deserve credit for how smartly they raced with each other. Magnussen didn’t fight Schumacher after he made his mistake because he was aware of a potential minor engine issue on his side. Earlier in the grand prix, Schumacher had caught Magnussen, who had just lost DRS, and had a clear opportunity to attack up the hill into Turn 3. But as he had not had the green light from Haas to race his team-mate, and had Hamilton close behind, Schumacher stayed behind Magnussen.
By the time Magnussen made his error later in the race, though, it was clear Schumacher’s pace was better and it made sense for Magnussen not to cover him. This was indirectly payback for Schumacher’s restrained opening stint, in which he hinted a couple of times he’d like to be allowed to move ahead but respected the team’s instruction not to try.
This was a sign Schumacher had learned his lesson after criticising how Haas handled their battle in Saturday’s sprint race. Then, he was “mainly angry because I felt like we lost points as a team and I think that every point is valuable” but Haas brushed this aside and said Schumacher only felt he was faster because he had the DRS.
So early in the main race, Schumacher started his radio messages by acknowledging the DRS was having an impact but stressing he could go faster even with that factored in. Haas still controlled the two cars at that point but it showed Schumacher had already taken something onboard from Saturday.
His ambition is laudable and he has started to show glimpses of a more ruthless side to his game that we have not seen before from him in F1. Schumacher will come to learn when to choose his battles within the team – and on this form there will be more fights to pick.
This was a lot more like someone who can be a serious points threat all the time: good in qualifying, even better in the races. As that car’s got better he’s gone with it. It’s not just Magnussen leading the way now, Schumacher’s there and even beating him.
Schumacher is starting to operate like a very, very decent midfield grand prix driver with the potential to be even more than that.
By extension, it is comfortably the best he’s looked so far in F1. And if it’s a sustainable level then his career should last beyond 2022 without any question.
