Mick Schumacher Q&A: Styrian & Austrian Grands Prix
June 22, 2021
The Red Bull Ring hasn’t been the kindest track to you in terms of results from your time in Formula 2 in 2019 and 2020 – a pair of 4th place finishes your best results in six race starts. What memories do you have from the circuit from your junior career?
“I’ve always been very happy around the Red Bull Ring; it’s been a great track for me and I’ve been fast. In terms of luck, maybe it wasn’t always my race, but I think in general we’ve had the pace. In 2019, it was the first race where I had the pace to stay with the top runners, even though it was a lap down, and I was just as close as what Nyck de Vries was doing at the time, and he won the championship that year. Looking at Formula 3, my speed was good and I’ve had multiple wins there. In general, the Red Bull Ring is a very special track - it has a lot of altitude changes in it and quite frankly it’s a track that is fun to drive.”
Describe a lap of the Red Bull Ring and what you expect there behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car?
“I haven’t driven a Formula 1 car around the track so it’s hard to describe but looking at it there are three very fast corners at T6, T7 and again in T9 and I’m excited about experiencing that in a Formula 1 car. We have high braking areas as well which is tough for the car and tough for the brakes. I’m very much looking forward to it. It’s going to be a double-header with the team so we can try lots of things and hopefully we’ll be able to try to maximize what we have.”
You experienced back-to-back races in Austria last season to start the Formula 2 season. This year you’re doing the double again at the Red Bull Ring in Formula 1. Do you think a second race at the same circuit, just one week apart, allows you more of an opportunity to benchmark your progress in the VF-21 and with the team?
“It gives me the opportunity to try something in the second weekend during FP1 and FP2 because normally we have to run some different programs and try some things, which we’ll do in the first weekend but then on the second weekend we’re able to try some other things. We’ll get a lot of information through that and hopefully set-up the car to the maximum of its potential.”
The second race in Austria will see a different tire compound selection available – moving from Pirelli’s C2-C3-C4 range for the Styrian Grand Prix to the softer selection of C3-C4-C5 for the Austrian Grand Prix. What are the challenges in running different compounds at the same track on consecutive weekends and how steep is the learning curve with the new, shortened 60-minute practice sessions this season?
“They have done the same thing as last year where we just changed the tire compound, but Austria is not the biggest tire consumer in that sense. The first weekend is probably going to be more on the harder compound and easier to keep the tires alive but potentially to warm them up will be a bit difficult. It changes a bit for that second weekend, but I think that strategies will stay the same and the things we can try will also be the same. I’m just happy we get to drive to much and spend time with the team.”