Mick Schumacher received heavy criticism after a difficult start to the season which saw him have an accident in qualifying in Saudi Arabia that did not allow him to participate in the race, another incident with Sebastian Vettel in Miami and a big accident in the swimming pool of the Monaco GP.
The Haas German’s performance has since improved. He managed to finish sixth in the standings for the Canadian GP, the best starting position of his Formula 1 career, and although his car broke down on that occasion, he later scored points at the British GP and the Austrian GP. But he has not forgotten the criticism from the beginning of the year.
“In a way, people are focused on creating headlines,” Schumacher told Motorsport.com in an interview before the summer break.
“Yes, I understand that people need to make money and they need to do some things. But on the other hand, also, I would appreciate it if they, you know, had more patience, to really study the facts.”
Although some of these accidents have been driver error, there have also been times when people outside the competition did not know all the details, but still had their say, such as when the German was hampered by suspension problems in Spain. However, he says that now he knows how to overcome those difficult moments.
“I don’t think about it again,” Schumacher said. “I know what I’m capable of, I know what I’m worth, so I focus on that. I just try to do my best and normally that should be enough to perform well, because it’s been like that in Formula 2 and in Formula 2. Formula 3”.
“In every one of the championships I’ve competed in in lower categories, I’ve been able to be second or first. So I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to do that in Formula 1 ,” he added.
Starting to think this way was part of the mental reset that the Haas driver himself underwent after the shocking accident in Monaco.
“I knew I had to do something to improve my performance,” Schumacher said. “I think I had to reflect on everything that had happened, but also why I am here in Formula 1.
“I focused on that and said, ‘I’m doing this because I like it and if I don’t want to do it, I don’t have to.'”
“That helped me to go back to a kind of positive thinking. Thanks to that, then I also managed to do a good job.”
Although he failed to score points in the last two races before the summer break after two positive results at Silverstone and Spielberg, Schumacher is optimistic for the rest of the season.
“I feel like we’re a bit more lost than at the beginning of the year in terms of car set-up,” explained the German driver. “We had to do a kind of reset and then start over from scratch,” concluded the de Haas.
