Second-year Haas F1 Team driver Mick Schumacher is adjusting to life with a faster Formula 1 car.
And his boss, Haas team principal Gunther Steiner, says that just might be what's keeping the son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher from matching experienced teammate Kevin Magnussen's pace so far in 2022. That, and Schumacher is making uncharacteristic mistakes.
"Mick has to learn to race at the front," the Haas team principal told European media outlet Die Welt newspaper. "It's closer in the midfield. I said to him that the higher you climb in F1, the thinner the air gets."
However, Steiner thinks 23-year-old Schumacher will steadily improve and adjust. He had better, or his dreams of making it to the parent Ferrari team won't last long.
Schumacher remains winless in F1 through 25 career races. Meanwhile Magnussen has scored points for finishing in the top 10 in three of the four races in 2022, including a fifth-place finish in the season-opening race in Bahrain.
"It's new for (Mick) to use the car for an overtaking maneuver," Steiner said. "Last season we only drove behind the others so he was rarely able to do that. But he wants to get better and is investing a lot of time in that."
F1 legend Gerhard Berger insists that Schumacher's full focus at present should be on getting in front of Magnussen, rather than positioning himself as the next Ferrari driver.
"It would be very, very dangerous if he already started thinking about how he can get behind the wheel of a Ferrari now," Berger told Sky Deutschland. "First, he has to succeed at Haas, and that means beating his teammate."
Schumacher's next chance to score points and beat his veteran teammate is May 8 at the inaugural F1 Miami Grand Prix.
