Schumacher ‘feels at home’ at Haas F1 despite limited running in Bahrain

Mick Schumacher says he feels comfortable in Haas’ 2021 car despite limiting running on the opening day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Schumacher’s running was curtailed after a hydraulic issue forced Haas into a gearbox change.

The German managed 15 laps in total on his way to 16th overall in the final classification, 5.4s off the pace set by Max Verstappen.

It was the first time Schumacher had driven the car after teammate Nikita Mazepin completed a successful shakedown of the VF21 on Wednesday afternoon.

Reflecting on his first outing for Haas in 2021, he said: “It was great, obviously I would have loved some more laps, would have been great to get those laps in which we lost because of a gearbox issue and therefore we just sat in the box for quite a while.

“Fortunately we got to go out for a few laps at the end. Obviously conditions are not great, we’re having a sandstorm right now. Not amazing, but still valuable time in the car. 

“It felt very comfy, the seat feels good, the car feels great, I feel very at home.”

Despite having only 15 laps to his name, Schumacher feels he was able to learn a lot in the limited time available.

“Any lap is great in the car, I learn from the first lap to the last lap – I take them, it’s better than nothing,” Schumacher added. ”Happy to be in the car, happy to be able to push at times and try some things.

“It’s very gusty, makes it unpredictable, makes it different from corner to corner and that’s something you have to get used to. These F1 cars these days are very wind affected so any little wind gust sets off the car massively. That’s why we saw quite a few spins and moments on track today, it’ll be interesting to see how it is tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll be better than today.”

Schumcher will be back in the car for the afternoon session on day two in Bahrain.