F1-bound Mick Schumacher “overwhelmed” to secure F2 title

Mick Schumacher says he feels “overwhelmed” to have been crowned FIA Formula 2 champion following a dramatic season-finale in Bahrain.

Schumacher - son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael - prevailed to the F2 title despite finishing 18th in the final race of the year after being forced to make an unscheduled pit stop having flat-spotted his tyres following multiple lock-ups.

The Ferrari protege, who will graduate to F1 with Haas next season, beat his nearest rival Callum Ilott to the championship by 14 points after the UNI-Virtuosi driver faded late on with severe tyre degradation having sat as high as third at one stage.

“To be honest I’m a bit overwhelmed,” Schumacher said after the race.

“I don’t really understand or feel like a champion yet, I guess it’s going to take a few days maybe.

“It sounds good, but would sound a lot better if I had a good race today,” he added.

“But nevertheless we did enough to be champion. I owe it all to them, the team, such a great bunch of people.

“Callum gave me a run for my money and it’s been really tough, but so enjoyable at the same time.”

Schumacher made a trademark fast-start to challenge for the lead into Turn 1 but suffered a huge lock-up under braking at Turn 4 as he narrowly avoided rear-ending Dan Ticktum’s DAMS.

Further lock-ups followed for Schumacher as he desperately battled to keep Ilott behind him before eventually pitting to change tyres shortly after losing third place to the Briton.

Can’t say I didn’t give it my all, what a year it’s been. So much speed, some great memories and I couldn’t have done it without @VirtuosiRacing . Pushing this man @SchumacherMick all the way to the end. Very well done to him and @PREMA_Team pic.twitter.com/HKqCCZeyG0

— Callum Ilott (@callum_ilott) December 6, 2020

The German admitted it was far from his finest hour of the season but said he will ultimately “forget” the result in the joy of being crowned champion.

“I knew the wind conditions were going to be tricky,” Schumacher explained.

“It was very gusty and we had a lot of tailwind going into Turn 4. I braked too late, that’s the brutal truth. I was late on the brakes, which kind of compromised the whole race.

“After that, I really did my best to stay ahead of Callum but he had good pace. I felt my rears going off but I kept on going, kept on going and then I was like ‘I can’t drive anymore on this tyre’ and we had to do something.

“I was a bit afraid to come in but the team said ‘let’s try it, we can’t finish on this set anyways’, so we pitted and we didn’t manage to get back to the front but nevertheless we are champion now today and that’s what people will remember.

“They will forget this race today and only see the good times this year and I will too.”