What did Schumacher learn from battling Hamilton in Austria?

Schumacher scored his best result to date in F1 with sixth place at the Red Bull Ring, making his back-to-back points finishes in 2022.

The German duelled with Hamilton during the majority of the sprint race before getting past the Mercedes driver in the early laps of Sunday’s grand prix.

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Reflecting on his battle with Hamilton, Schumacher said he learned that everyone is capable of making mistakes and that “everybody’s human”.

“I think the main thing that I learned is that everybody’s human,” Schumacher said. 

“Everybody makes mistakes and everybody when they’re under pressure at some time get to a point where they do make mistakes. That I think is important to me to know that and not be afraid about fighting with anybody out there.”

Less pressure the key for Schumacher

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes a more relaxed approach from Schumacher has been a major factor in his improvement in form.

The American outfit has enjoyed back-to-back points finishes for the first time with both cars since the end of 2018.

“I cannot find something to say, this is what it was, but he already performed a lot better in Canada," Steiner told Sky.

“Obviously, the qualifying was good there but the race was not so good because he retired, but in Canada he just seemed to be a lot more relaxed about everything and that comes from putting less pressure on himself which helped having these results.

“I'm 100 per cent sure about this. I saw a change in Canada where he seemed to be more relaxed about everything but hopefully now with having scored twice in a row and finishing sixth gives us more points because we desperately need them to get to sixth.”

Steiner was also quick to dismiss any questions about Schumacher’s frustration about a lack of team orders in the sprint race on Saturday.

“You know race car drivers, they're all the same,” he added. “They always want to be in front of their team-mate. I always say you're equals and the team decides what we're going to do because the points are for the team.

“We need more points for the team to get into sixth hopefully, or fight at least for sixth. If we waste opportunities because you guys are fighting, it's not good for the team and the only entitlement they have is to work for the team.”