Mick Schumacher Q&A: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

We head to Imola for the fourth round of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. You finished 16th here last season following a race with mixed weather conditions, do you think this track will the suit the VF-22 and where does it perform over its rivals?

“I think Imola is always a nice track to go to – I enjoy it a lot. I’ve driven around it quite a bit and I’m really excited to get there with these nice, new cars and hopefully be able to do well.”

 

To maximize a flying lap of this track, we often see drivers riding the kerbs, with these new cars is that achievable without damage or will the racing line need to be adapted? 

“It seems like kerb usage in general will be a bit lower compared to last year but I’m sure that drivers and teams will find ways to still be able to take as much kerb, and hopefully we will be too.”

 

The first Sprint event of the weekend – what were the learnings from last season, what are the extra considerations with this new era of car and with the added opportunity for drivers to score points for finishing eighth and higher, do you think we’ll see more racing?

“With our car I think it’s actually quite alright, we should be able to manage to put everything together quite soon in the weekend. We have a good idea, we don’t need to do huge changes so hopefully we’ll be right in there and be able to have a good weekend.”

 

Last month, Formula 1 announced that it would continue to race in Imola until 2025. With the emergence of new locations joining the calendar, do you think it’s still important to protect and continue racing at circuits with such history, or is it just as important to expand the sport into new territories?

“I think it’s definitely important to be at race tracks that have history and hopefully we’ll have some German races coming in soon, as that’s still missing.”