“I’m somewhat surprised”– Ferrari boss shares his surprise with Mick Schumacher having immense pace in his rookie Formula 1 season.
Mick Schumacher is the golden boy of Formula 1, obviously because of his second name, but after his F2 championship win, he has gained some reputation and is believed to make the most out of his Haas, which has certainly the slowest cars in F1.
Even Ferrari Driver Academy’s coach Jock Clear has shared his surprise with Schumacher showing excellent pace in his rookie season in F1, despite having limited resources with Haas.
“[I’m] somewhat surprised,” Clear to the Beyond the Grid podcast. “We’ve worked with him for quite a while now at Ferrari in the driver academy so we know him quite well.”
“It will be no surprise to him to hear that often the criticism that was levelled at him in the smaller formulae was that he takes quite a while to get up to speed.”
“He’s not someone who is going to get in it and make you go ‘Bam, this kid’s quick’. But give him a second year in the formula and he really starts to come good and his consistency starts to shine through.”
“Actually, I’m quite impressed with his out and out speed this year, to be honest.”
He has the ability to work on the feedback.
Clear thought initially, Schumacher’s teammate Nikita Mazepin would be having better performances than the 22-year-old driver, but Schumacher’s ability to work on the feedback he receives is giving him an edge over the Russian driver.
“It was an area that we identified, and it’s an area that Mick has addressed, and I think that is his best trait at the moment,” said Clear. “You tell him something once, and he is on it; he deals with it. That will serve him very, very well.
“Intelligent drivers are such a pleasure to work with and they are fundamentally self-motivating because as soon as you give them something to learn and something to improve and they do so, they just get even more engaged.”
