Mick Schumacher has said that he was counting on Safety Cars and red flags, to help him gain positions in what was a very clean Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. The German has now set his sights on next weekend in Montreal, Canada, having finished fourteenth-place at the Baku City Circuit.
After qualifying twentieth and last in qualifying on Saturday, Schumacher was aided by the five retirements in the race and an overtake on Nicolas Latifi, to finish the race just four positions out of the points. The Haas F1 Team driver is, however, still waiting on scoring his first points in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
“There wasn’t a safety car, or a red flag and I think I was betting on three safety cars and a red flag, at least, but it didn’t happen. We did our maximum, but the pace just wasn’t there.
“From Saturday onwards, things went a bit smoother but on a track like this it’s the Friday that matters and we only had one session to find the perfect set-up for qualifying, so it’s not easy and that’s what made everything a little bit more difficult. We just have to look ahead.”
“It looked like we were back in the game” – Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Magnussen left Azerbaijan wondering what could have been, after fighting for a place in the top ten during the race on Sunday before a power unit failure put him out of the race.
The number 20 driver, who started from sixteenth on the grid, was also helped by the retirements of both Scuderia Ferrari cars and the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver of Guanyu Zhou, but would become the fourth Ferrari-powered car to retire from the race.
“It looked like we were back in the game and in a position to maybe score a point or two, so it’s disappointing. I know I lost power but I don’t know what exactly broke so it’s unfortunate but on to the next one,” Magnussen explained.
“We’ve just got to stay at it, keep positive and keep working hard as it will go our way sooner or later.”
Haas will be hoping they can be competitive in this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, a circuit that Schumacher has not raced at since his Formula 1 debut.
