‘Mick Schumacher is finding a positive mental spiral’ – Nico Rosberg says Haas driver needs ‘time to develop’ in F1
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Published 15/07/2022 at 13:37 GMT
Mick Schumacher had a difficult start to his 2022 Formula One season which was marred by two big crashes in Saudi Arabia and Monaco. However, his form began to turn around in last month’s Canadian Grand Prix and he scored his first points in F1 at Silverstone, backing the result up with sixth at the latest race in Austria. Nico Rosberg tells Eurosport people need to give him “time to develop".
Drivers' reactions as Leclerc wins ahead of Verstappen in Austria
Nico Rosberg believes Mick Schumacher is psychologically in a better place after scoring his first points in Formula One at the British Grand Prix earlier this month.
Schumacher ended his scoreless run with an eighth place finish at Silverstone, having endured a disappointing start to his season including two big crashes in Saudi Arabia and Monaco.
However, he’s turned his form around and has beaten team-mate Kevin Magnussen on merit at the last two races in the UK and Austria, where he finished sixth.
“Mick has had difficult weeks, so we're all delighted that he's now made a nice breakthrough,” Rosberg told Eurosport.
“Formula One is fast-moving. He had to take a lot of criticism. When I open the newspapers these days, I don't read any criticism about him at all.
“It only took one race, an eighth-place finish, a great duel with Verstappen in Great Britain and everything is forgotten again.
“That's the crazy thing about our sport, but also the nice thing for Mick. Psychologically, that's incredibly valuable for him because he's now finding a positive mental spiral. That carries him and that helps him in the coming races.”
Schumacher has faced more pressure than other drivers who are new to F1 due to his father Michael Schumacher who won seven world championships.
Rosberg believes people need to be patient with Schumacher, who has a record of coming strong in the second half of a campaign during his time in Formula Two and Formula Three.
“He still needs time in his development,” added Rosberg. “The past races have shown that. That's why it would make sense for him to take his time before targeting a top team.
“We've also seen that with George Russell, who drove at Williams for three years and was then ready for the move up to Mercedes. There's no need to rush.
Schumacher has a healthy relationship with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel with the pair crediting each other on and off the track.
Rosberg thinks the friendship is fine as long as they are not fighting at the front of the field.
“There can be no friendship when you're fighting one-on-one for every victory and title,” explained Rosberg. “I don't think that's possible.
“There's so much at stake, it doesn't work in the long run. But Mick and Sebastian are not rivals for first places.
“Mick crashed into Sebastian in Miami. If it had been about first place, Vettel would have been in a completely different mood after the race.
“But it was about the places in the midfield, so you can overlook that. It's incredibly nice that Sebastian supports his buddy Mick so much.”
Rosberg knows all to well about a friendship breaking down in F1 after he fell out with Lewis Hamilton when they fought for the title in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Current F1 title protagonists Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen have battled each other in good spirits this season, which Rosberg says is still “intense” even if the cameras don’t pick it up.
“They've both known each other since childhood and respect each other, knowing they're both terrific talents,” said Rosberg.
“But I don't think these scenes represent the whole picture. They're snapshots that you could have found between me and Lewis as well - laughing together.
“Overall, it's intense there. Even though Charles is behind in the world championship. He's not an immediate threat to Max.
“Strangely enough, the two have had few very close or controversial situations with each other. But we're still waiting for that, then things will look differently again.”
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