Halfway through Mick Schumacher's first Formula 1 season, Jock Clear shared his thoughts on the Haas rookie in the latest episode of F1's podcast Beyond The Grid. 

“I’m quite impressed with his out-and-out speed this year, to be honest," he said. 

"People said to me at the beginning of the year, ‘Yes but how’s he going to get on against Mazepin?’, and I said I wouldn’t be surprised if Mazepin starts off out-qualifying him a few times because Mick takes a while to get up to speed – but actually, not the case.”

Clear is Senior Performance Engineer at Ferrari and after following Charles Leclerc's development since he joined the team in 2019, he is now working with Ferrari’s Driver Academy young talents.

Among them is current F2 driver Robert Shwartzman, F2 runner-up last year Callum Ilott and of course Mick Schumacher. Over the years Clear has worked with drivers like Coulthard, Jacques Villeneuve, Sato and Barrichello at Williams and BAR-Honda respectively. Before moving to Ferrari he spent a few years at Mercedes, where he was a performance engineer for Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Micheal Schumacher.

Recalling his days with Micheal at Mercedes in the early part of the last decade, Clear shared: “He’s so much like his dad in his mannerisms and his accent and that’s quite enjoyable in itself. That reminds me of good days. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Michael."

“Mick is similarly such a pleasant young man to deal with." Something that is not so obvious in the racing world. 

"That’s not a given; there’s a lot of racing drivers, they are successful, they do what they do…" 

"Mick is just a very, very pleasant young man to deal with in every way. So, whatever he does in life, he’ll be very well served by just being a top bloke and getting on with people.”