ISTANBUL – Haas’ driver, Mick Schumacher, started his Turkish Grand Prix with an amazing career-first entry into Q2 − the racing team’s first in 2021 − by recording the 11th fastest time in Q1, indicating what seemed to be a good weekend for the 22-year-old rookie.
Although he could only clinch a P14 by the time of his elimination, it was still a big positive for the German race driver.
But his so-called great weekend was not meant to be. After Fernando Alonso tagged him during the initial part of the race, he was unable to cope with the better sides.
“Up to the race, yeah. Maybe the race, no,” Mick told media when asked if it was his best weekend in Formula One. “Overall, I think we can be very happy about what we did.”
“We were very close [to cars ahead] from the beginning, and it just seemed like the gaps to the other cars was a bit smaller than usual. We can take massive amounts of positives from here, and hopefully bring them to the rest of the season.”
“Those things [the incident with Fernando Alonso] happen, especially at those kind of corners. Unfortunately, this time it didn’t work out, but we’ll learn and move on.”
It wasn’t late in the day before Fernando realised his mistake; after the race, he was seen apologising to the Swiss-born driver.
Even FIA was prompt with its investigation over the incident, penalising the Spaniard with a five-second penalty. The Alpine driver finished the race with a P16 position while Mick ended up at the end of the grid with a P19.
However, Mick feels that even with all this, it is evident that Haas can do much better with additional injected pace in 2022. – Agencies, October 19, 2021
