Mick Schumacher had an eventful first Australian Grand Prix last Sunday, but the German’s search for a first top ten finish continues after ending the day thirteenth.
Schumacher was lucky to avoid a second lap retirement after coming close to being hit by the out-of-control Carlos Sainz Jr. at the fast chicane at the back of the circuit, while he also was close to hitting the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Scuderia AlphaTauri while behind the safety car later in the race.
He felt the pace of his VF-22 was not far off what was needed to be a top ten contender, but ultimately the speed was not there when he needed it to be, and he was left outside the points when it mattered.
“It was a very eventful one,” said Schumacher. “Right from the beginning with Carlos coming around and cutting back across the track, I think we got missed by a few meters there, and obviously Yuki under the safety car coming quite close together.
“I think in terms of pace we were not too far off, it’s just unfortunate that there’s not a huge amount of passing opportunities here. Lots was learned, some positives, so we’ve just got to take it away with us and hopefully be better in Imola.”
“The safety car came and ruined the strategy” – Kevin Magnussen
Team-mate Kevin Magnussen saw his run of points finishes end in Australia, with the Dane struggling throughout the weekend on his way to fourteenth place.
Having scored points in both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on his return to Formula 1, Magnussen was plagued by illness for much of the weekend at Albert Park and coupled with an inability to get the best out of the VF-22, he was left fighting outside the top ten for much of the race.
Magnussen also felt the timing of the safety cars went against them in Australia, but despite failing to score points, he has hope he’ll be fighting for the top ten again in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix later this month.
“It was good fun and a nice track,” said Magnussen. “Disappointed not to get points today but we made a small gamble on the hard tyre as we felt we were faster than our position, which we were, but the safety car came and ruined the strategy.
“The starting set-up that we had here wasn’t good and we were struggling a little bit with tyres on this new tarmac but we were able to turn it around and get much closer to the pack in the race and have pretty decent pace.
“We were able to turn things around and we’ll score points next time.”
