Mick Schumacher Q&A: Singapore Grand Prix

For Round 17 of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the pinnacle of motorsport returns to Singapore for the first time since 2019. It will be a new race for you – what do you know about the city, the circuit and are you excited about adding Singapore to your racing CV? 
 
“Singapore is definitely a special race track and I’m looking forward to it. Up until now I’ve been once… and that was at the airport for a stopover, but even there it looked great! I’m very excited about getting to experience the track for myself. A lot of people say it’s a tough one because of humidity but also just the features of the track – so we’ll see what we can do.”

 
Since its first running in 2008, the Singapore Grand Prix has featured at least one safety car every season. Knowing a statistic like that, do you do extra preparation with the team to understand previous examples and how best to stay out of trouble? 
 
“We have our pre-event meetings which are key factors for examples such as safety cars. It does flow into race strategy and preparation but on the other hand I go there with a fresh mind so I just have to get in as many laps as I can and hopefully get a good feel for it so we can perform well in qualifying and then have a clean start so we are in points contention.”

 
It’s arguably one of the toughest races for drivers with humid weather and bumpy street surfaces all while having to navigate 23 corners. How as drivers can you best prepare your body for those conditions and how do you feel straight after coming out of the car after racing in such heat?
 
“It’s hard for me to judge as I haven’t been there to know what the best preparation is for me but at the end of the day, usually the preparation between events doesn’t really shift, even if it’s a special venue like Singapore.”

 

In addition to the on-track physicality, the race schedule is four hours later in Singapore as we race at night. How exactly does that change your own routine – e.g. when do you wake up and go to sleep - and by race day is your mind and body adjusted or do you continue to feel that you’re eating meals at the wrong time and being allowed a lie-in?
 
“I think I can adjust to that pretty easily because I do that any way – I eat when I’m hungry, I don’t have fixed times for things – I’m easy!”