12/12/2020
NEWS STORY
Mick Schumacher admits his FP1 debut for Haas was "great fun", and a "hell of a ride".
Having missed out at the Nurburgring, Mick Schumacher finally made his FP1 debut as Haas gave the youngster the opportunity to take to the track in preparation for next season's full-time drive.
Over the course of the ninety minute session the German completed 23 laps and posted a best time a couple of seconds quicker than teammate, Pietro Fittipaldi.
"Everything went well and I'm really happy with how the session went," said Schumacher, who will be back in action on Tuesday for the Young Driver Test.
"There were no major issues on either side, so I'm really, really happy," he continued. "I prefer being quite direct with feedback even though I might not have as much experience in F1 cars as other people do. Nevertheless, it was good to give feedback on anything I could notice. On that part I think everything went well.
"It was a hell of a ride," he beamed, "it was really fun and great to be back in an F1 car. Any running is good running and great preparation for me next year, so it is now to really get that first taste.
"The Young Driver test is really going to be for me to work on certain things such as long runs which are very important," he said. "Hopefully on some starts and just really get used to the team and familiarise with the car.
"The high-fuel running was quite different to anything I've done before," he admitted. "Up until now I've only driven an F1 car on low-fuel so it was definitely information and valuable time for me in the car to feel how much can I brake, and how much can I push still.
"And my practice start actually went really well for my first start in an F1 car, so happy with that."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Yas Island, here.