Schumacher “90 percent” happy with Haas F1 debut in Bahrain

Mick Schumacher said he's “90 percent” happy with his Formula 1 debut at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, with the only blemish on his weekend a spin after the Safety Car restart.

Schumacher finished 16th in Bahrain after qualifying 19th, over 0.8s faster than Haas teammate Nikita Mazepin.

Besides a spin after the Safety Car restart on the exit of Turn 4, Schumacher enjoyed a positive debut weekend.

“I think in general, let’s say 90 percent happy, 10 percent not because of the mistake that I did at the Safety Car restart with the spin,” Schumacher said.

“Luckily the car was still drivable and everything was alright, I could keep going and keep taking my experience through the race weekend. After I went through the C3s [tyres], the C2s, and the C2s felt really good.”

Schumacher recovered onto the back of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, who had been suffering from a suspected boost leak problem which affected the power levels and driveability of his Mercedes power unit.

The reigning Formula 2 champion said driving behind another F1 car for the first time for a sustained period was a useful experience .

“Afterwards, obviously [it was] a bit of a shame that I wasn’t in the pack, being able to try at least to be close to the guys for a few laps,” Schumacher added.

“Fortunately, let’s say, I got through [the] blue flags but also [when] catching up to Nicholas, I was able to get a feel for how it is to follow a car close with DRS and everything.

“I felt like I’ve learned a lot and I’m able to convert that hopefully into something positive in two weeks.”

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was “very happy” with Schumacher’s display in Bahrain.

“I’m very happy with how he did it,” Steiner said after the race in Bahrain. “He improved in each stint on tyres, very good, very calm, very good communication with his team. 

“Except for one spin, nothing else went wrong. Advice I gave him, keep on doing this and we will get there pretty soon to be at a good level.”