Mick Schumacher was ‘very happy’ to claim his fourth FIA European Formula 3 Championship victory of the 2018 at the Nurburgring on Saturday, as a good start saw him jump ahead of Prema Theodore Racing team-mate Robert Shwartzman on the run down to turn one.
Having won one race at each of the past three events at Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone and just last weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Schumacher was at it again on Saturday, passing Shwartzman into turn one and then consolidating his position until the chequered flag.
Schumacher moves ahead of Jüri Vips and into second place in the championship standings thanks to his win, and heading into the rest of the weekend, he will be aiming to close down the twenty-six-point deficit he has to Daniel Ticktum.
“My start was good, and I managed to move up into the lead fairly quickly,” said Schumacher. “Then, I tried to save my tyres as well as I could.
“Of course, I am very happy with this victory and with the 25 points that get me up into second place of the drivers’ standings.”
Team-mate Shwartzman remains without a win in 2018 and the Russian admitted two mistakes cost him the chance of breaking his duck, the first of which was allowing Schumacher through at the first turn before he fell too far back on the safety car restart and was forced to defend rather than attack.
“Both at the start and at the restart after the safety car intervention, I made a mistake,” admitted Shwartzman. “At the start, I had to let Mick pull away and at the restart, I had to defend my second place.
“As the race went on, I could close up to Mick again, partly because my car was really good. However, I was no longer in a position to overtake him.
“Generally, I am happy with second place, I just have to practice the starts a little bit more.”
