It is a well known fact that former Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel and current Ferrari Academy Driver Mick Schumacher are very good friends. And the four-time champion admitted that he has been impressed by the Haas rookie, as he commended his fellow German’s work ethic despite a difficult first year in Formula One.
Sebastian Vettel has willingly assumed a mentoring role to Mick Schumacher, as the Ferrari Driver Academy member finished his first Formula 1 championship with Haas – the team that from the very beginning announced that it will not develop the car during the 2021 season and not at all surprisingly did not manage to score a single point. Sebastian admitted that the situation has been difficult for Mick as he shared his thoughts on the 22-year-old’s performance during his first season.
“Well I think it’s difficult to judge because the car has been so far off, but for those who were looking and looking closely – obviously I’ve been following and yes, I think he did an incredible job with such a poor car to reach qualifying segment two a couple of times, to have strong showings in the race, fight some of the other cars that are much faster, stick with the cars ahead that are supposed to be much faster. That’s a great effort. More so, he’s been a huge lift for the entire team; I think the offset from the start of the season for that team was poor because they had no development and they were far behind. But I think if you look throughout the year, Mick’s been very happy and enthusiastic and happy to put work in. He’s been one of the first ones, if not the first one, every single day to come to the paddock and one of the latest ones to leave.” – Sebastian Vettel added, as reported by Formula 1’s official website.
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Mick Schumacher managed a best finish of P12 this season (from P20 in Hungary) and ended up with 14th in Abu Dhabi as the sole Haas starter, due to the fact that his team mate Nikita Mazepin was not able to take part in the last race of the season with a positive Covid-19 test.
As Haas have spent 2021 focusing only on the next championship, Sebastian Vettel hopes that the Ferrari junior will get a car worthy of his performances in 2022.
“He’s shown great interest in trying to push the team along, so apart from the job on track that he did, apart from some small mistakes that happen in your first year, I think he’s done a great job. So I really wish he gets a much better job next year to show what he’s able to do.” – the former Ferrari driver concluded.
Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher will be reunited for the Race Of Champions, which takes place in February, as they pair up to represent Team Germany – just as Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel did to win the Nations Cup six consecutive times.
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