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Mick Schumacher says feeling like his Haas car’s downforce fell to “20%” at the start of the race was among “a ton of new things” he’s learned from his Formula 1 debut.
The Formula 2 champion outqualified team-mate and fellow rookie Nikita Mazepin by eight tenths of a second, and made it to the finish in a lapped 16th on his first grand prix start while Mazepin crashed out at Turn 3 on the opening lap.
Schumacher’s result came after surviving a big spin after an early safety car restart and he said that the experience of how the car handles when everyone was close together was a major takeaway from his first F1 race.
“In general I’ve learned a ton of new things, and we’ve seen that come through in all the meetings we’ve had,” he said ahead of this weekend’s Imola round, in response to being asked what stood out as a “key learning” from Bahrain that he could apply in the future.
“It’s always different talking about it and feeling it. There are a lot of things I learned about the tyres, that’s probably the biggest new thing to me.
“Also, on things like how much downforce we lose at the start of the race.
“It’s like going from 100% downforce to 20% downforce the moment you’re turning into a corner.
“There was definitely lots learned and lots to look at before heading to Imola.
“I feel I have a lot more knowledge, a lot more comfort, but I was also really surprised at how quickly the weekend was over.
“It all happened in the blink of an eye – it was a case of little time and lots to learn, let’s put it like that.”
Schumacher said there have been “a few team meetings” to put what was learned in Bahrain into practice for the Imola weekend.
In response to being asked the same question as Schumacher, Mazepin – who had a series of spins through practice and qualifying as well as his shunt in the grand prix – said: “I feel like the biggest thing to get used to is learning the schedule, and the weekend is much more intense with all that’s going on and the sessions on-track.
LAP 1/56
Safety Car is out after Mazepin hits the barriers on the opening lap! 💥
He is out of the car and unharmed 👍#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Q4MJILmXct
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 28, 2021
“It’s about keeping concentration and learning the schedule – that’s the biggest thing.”
Mazepin said he’d used the two weeks between the opening races to “go away and reflect back on the weekend to see the things I need to improve – and obviously there’s a lot of things being a rookie”.
Despite the errors, Haas team boss Guenther Steiner felt both drivers did a good job in Bahrain as the first weekend was “a learning phase”.
The all-rookie pairing and limited development in the off-season means Haas is aware it will struggle to score points this year.
“Formula 1 is a very difficult sport, but we knew the challenge, therefore there’s no big surprise,” said Steiner of bringing in two new drivers
“We decided to do this, and we need to get through it. I just try to see it that the drivers feel comfortable – I don’t try to micromanage them.
“They have their engineers and they need to work with them on a day-to-day basis, or more accurately on an hour-to-hour basis, not with me.
“In the beginning, I will be well-informed what is happening and try to see where I may need to intervene.
“I’m not doing the job myself. I’ve got good people working for the team who know how to do the job better than me.
“I just observe what is happening. If there’s a problem I’m there to ask what it is and then I see if I need to do something.”
