Formula 1: Mick Schumacher is carrying Haas on and off the track

“We saw last year, there have been press conferences where there were more journalists around him than around [Lewis] Hamilton,” Nico Rosberg said of a rookie compatriot earlier this month, “it’s mind-blowing.”

“This gives him a lot of pressure. It’s quite impossible for him to be as good as his father, who is the best ever, but everybody compares him with his father… and this is tough.”

Predictably, the media frenzy surrounding Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time World Champion Michael, hasn’t slowed down since he entered Formula 1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix in March. 

The 22-year-old German arrived in the top level of motorsport having won the 2020 Formula 2 championship with Perma Racing, beating fellow Ferrari prospect Callum Illott to the title by 14 points.  

Schumacher, courted by several teams during his title-winning campaign, was immediately rewarded with a seat in F1, signed to represent Haas by team principal Guenther Steiner.

So far, albeit just four races into his F1 career, Schumacher has performed impressively in his VF-21, one of the least competitive cars to feature in the paddock in recent history.

Schumacher debuted in F1 from P18 in Bahrain, eventually bringing his Haas home in sixteenth position. In Italy, the German qualified half a second ahead of his teammate before finishing the grand prix sixteenth. At Portimão, Schumacher out-qualified Nikita Mazepin by a similar margin, overtaking Nicholas Latifi’s Williams to finish seventeenth on raceday.

He wants to know everything, he wants to learn, he just wants to get better – every day, every hour, every minute

– Guenther Steiner, Haas team principal

The Swiss-born driver was similarly composed at the Spanish GP, outqualifying Latifi on Saturday to start P18 before finishing in the same position a day later. 

Schumacher’s only major mistake? Hitting the wall at Imola after losing control of his car while trying to warm his tyres behind the safety car. 

Besides that admittedly large error, Schumacher has been near perfect, beating Mazepin in every session by a considerable margin and outperforming his car in the process. 

Take the race in Catalonia for example. Schumacher finished 50 seconds ahead of his teammate and out-qualified a more experienced rival who has the benefit of driving a faster car. That’s really impressive.

In addition to securing positive results in his opening four races, Schumacher has been praised for the quality of his feedback regarding the car’s performance – an ability especially important considering Haas’ lack of it this year.

Even Schumacher’s team principal – an individual notoriously loose with his use of language – has been impressed. Of Schumacher’s work ethic, Steiner said: “He works hard, he wants to know everything, he wants to learn, he just wants to get better – every day, every hour, every minute.”

Schumacher, then, is performing beyond his age and experience. At the moment, with Mazepin seemingly cemented to P20, the German is carrying his team on and off the track. 

Given the toxicity that surrounds his teammate, Schumacher’s popularity – with both the media and fans – is a significant boost for a team that is currently in dire straits.

As Rosberg’s comments suggest, driving in F1 as ‘MSC’ comes with obvious pressure. Mick will always be compared to his dad; Michael will always be a point of reference in his son’s life. 

However, the motorsport world wants Mick to succeed: partly because he is a Schumacher, partly because of what he has already achieved. 

Rosberg is right. It is incredibly unfair to compare Mick to his father. So far, however, Mick Schumacher has performed exceptionally under the spotlight. Long may it continue.