Despite 2021 being an incredibly tough season for Haas, it gave Mick Schumacher the chance to learn and get accustomed to the Formula 1 world away from the pressure that comes from being in the middle of the grid competing for points. A world the 2020 Formula 2 champion felt very comfortable into from the very start.

“I would say it has lived up to my expectations. I am also very fascinated about it because I feel so at home and it hasn’t been that way in any junior category really before,” he shared in an interview with Crash.net.

“Maybe the people, maybe the team. Obviously I think that it’s down to feeling comfortable in my skin, feeling comfortable in the environment I’m in and also on track. I think all of those things combined make me feel very at home in this championship.” 

In this year he has proved to have an impressive work ethic and attitude towards the team that isn’t so obvious for a rookie driver.

“I enjoy working as a team and I enjoy doing it as a team. I think that’s the important part. I wouldn’t be able to race without these guys, so that’s frankly the attitude I have towards it.”

A rookie yes, but one who has grown up in the Formula 1 environment surrounded by world champions.

Certainly Sebastian Vettel, who has been supporting him from early days and who has turned into a friend.

“More so than being my mentor, he’s my friend. I think that is something which is much more valuable to me. That’s the more important part to me.”

But Lewis Hamilton as well.

“He’s always been very open to giving advice to help me in the position I was in. Also, already back in the day, when my dad wasn’t with Mercedes anymore, I did get the chance to come to a few races and see him there,” said Schumacher.

“It’s been definitely nice knowing that when he had time he was able to talk to me about certain things. Those conversations are obviously private. Some of it is related to racing but most of it is just on a friendly basis.”

This rookie year in F1 was quite the experience for Mick, as he had the chance to share the grid with drivers like Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen who used to race against his father Michael back in the day.

“Thinking that they raced two generations, it must be surreal for them too. It must make them feel… [laughs as he purposely avoids saying ‘old’]… like they’ve been in the sport for quite a while,” he commented.

“Unfortunately it was not as much battling as I would like it to be. But hopefully, some of them are going to be there next year, so hopefully I can repay the favour and get to battle with them again.”

Asked about what it would mean for him to drive for Ferrari in the future he replied with his own version of Vettel’s “everybody is a Ferrari fan…”.

“I think in general it’s a dream for everybody to race for Ferrari. I think anybody would like to race there.”

His focus, however, is now fully on the upcoming season with Haas. The team had arrested development on the 2021 car in order to fully concentrate resources on the ground-effect single seater we will see on track this year. One Schumacher is looking forward to exploiting to the fullest potential.

“But obviously my thoughts are very much on the here and now and trying to do my best job in the position that I am in with Haas. For sure hopefully with a better car we’ll be able to take the maximum out of it.”