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Sky Sport Interview Special - "Hardenacke meets.. Episode 3" with Mick Schumacher

English Translation below the cut 😊

Peter Hardenacke: „‘Hardenacke meets…‘ Episode 3 and from a very special place at that! We are in Kerpen, at the Michael Schumacher Kart Centre, and are meeting his son, Mick Schumacher. We’re excited!”

PH: “Mick! I’m glad we found the time to talk! A very special place, Kerpen, hometown of your dad, Michael. I think the name ‘Kerpen’ is immediately connected to the Schumacher family! What does it mean to you?”

Mick: “Ehm.. childhood is the best word I believe I can use. Because I was here very often as a child, I drove karts here – well not here exclusively, also at the track in Kerpen-Manheim – and it was a very lovely time, a time where you didn’t think too much and just had fun.”

PH: “So Kerpen is a piece of home for you in a way? You’re on the road a lot with Formula 1, the US is a location for you, Switzerland.. Where would you say is home for you?”

Mick: “Switzerland, really. Just because I grew up there and we have our house there. Therefore, it’s home. But I definitely see this as my second home and have my friends here, so I love to be in this part of Germany.”

PH: “What were you like as a child? As a student in particular?”

Mick: “What I was like as a child? Well, someone who has been very distracted, because he had something really nice and that was karting. That’s where my thoughts have always been, even in school. And I always went here or to another kart track near straight away and was allowed to drive races and I knew from a very young age that I only wanted to race and luckily it went in that direction.”

PH: “We’re going to come back to that later – but staying at that, your time at school..”

Mick: *laughs* “I’d rather forget about that!”

PH: “I’d love to see that in front of me! How was Mick as a student?”

Mick: “Ah! How was I as a student? Well, I really liked German and English, because I was better at that than most of the others, ehm, but my absolute favourite subject was sports! It was always quite nice, school, of course, but my favourite was being at the racetrack or at home.”

PH: “And karting, when did that start?”

Mick: “Well, I had my first kart at 2 ½ years old, 2 years old and drove around the yard with it and a bit later at 4 years old it got cross tyres, a chain saw engine (I have no clue if it’s the right translation, never heard of it) and I got a quad on top of that, the motorbike at 5 years old.. I then had a nice arsenal to choose from, but always used the kart. At home we had a little hill, where I always came at with verve and jumped over it with the kart! I loved that! And a bit later the kart grew and with it the urge to drive. I started my first race at 8 in Spain, if I’m not mistaken and.. yeah, I never stopped racing since.”

PH: “And when have you known ‘That’s going to be it!’ regarding the direction you want to go to.. Because I think Michael never really wanted that for you both? I watched the documentary about you in the intro he said, ‘Oh well, if possible, it would be great if they would do something else!’, right?”

Mick: “Yeah, but I never wanted to do anything else! *grins* My dad asked me when I was 11 years old if I’d rather come here to play football, to hang out with friends and my answer was very clear that I wanted to do it, to do it properly, and decided the following year to drive international or to start at bigger national races and then also race internationally, Europe Championship, World Championship, ESK and what else they had back then. And that was basically the start to ‘professional racing’.”

PH: “And the decision was made here, right? Where you discussed it?”

Mick: “In Kerpen, in the KS Imbus.“

PH: „And what were the changes for you then? You already said it all got a bit bigger, also with all journeys, but regarding what you invested or were allowed to invest yourself, was that a big change?”

Mick: “Yeah, along the lines of not taking your helmet off and going off to play again, but rather think about it, what you can change to get faster, think about the driving itself, what I can do better – of course, at that time I was around 11, 12 and you don’t really think about (physical) training as it is way too early for such a small body – but just simple thoughts afterward and not running off, talking to the mechanic about what to do with the kart to get faster.”

PH: “How big was the influence of Michael at that time already? Could you learn something about how he works, which approach he had to some things?”

Mick: “I think at that age you don’t really perceive what happens around you. Of course, I knew that Papa was a racing driver, but what all that entailed wasn’t that clear, yet. And.. I always knew that I wanted to do it, but I didn’t know how hard it was actually going to be. So, I know what Papa meant by saying ‘Rather do something else!’, but in the end, I am incredibly proud to have taken this path and seen it through until the end. And without his support, his tips, and everything I wouldn’t have ended up where I did.”

PH: “What kind of feedback was it? You know about the dads who are always there at football practice, cheering and talking at them during the matches.. Was there a kind of exchange.. when you drove..?”

Mick: “Not at all. The exchange was always that he tried different tactics. Sometimes he tried to be very strict, sometimes not at all, always tried to see ‘what does Mick react to?’ and there were always a few moments where I actually had to think about ‘Okay, what did I do wrong now?’, but those were always moments that brought me forward, so I really liked this up and down, this inconsistency in a way, because it’s not that different in motorsport. You meet people who are giving you everything, who support you 100%, and some you are not behind you 100% and you still must deliver the performance.”

PH: “So he had a really good feeling about you-“

Mick: “Very good”

PH: “-what you need at that time, if you need a bit more pressure, or a hand steadying you.. so that was mainly where he had a good feeling about you.”

Mick: “Exactly”

PH: “So not like with Max Verstappen, where he - do you know that story? (*Mick nods*) - Where he (Jos) left him (Max) at a gas station?”

Mick: “And he had to walk.”

PH: “And he had him collected by the mum an hour later because the result wasn’t good?” *laughs*

Mick: *With a very neutral voice and expression* “No, we didn’t have that, no.”

PH: “How was it for you in general with the pressure? I mean it’s always there anyway and you also put it on yourself, to win races, to get better, but also to get a foot in with that name in the karting scene? Was there ever someone, or didn’t everyone say, ‘Now here comes the son of Michael’ and was that a special burden?”

Mick: “No, not at all, because Papa never gave me that pressure. So it was super easy to just do what I wanted to do, in a sense of how hard I wanted to push myself or not, and as I said Papa had an amazing feeling for it ‘Don’t think about it too hard, we’ll do the best that we can’ and it was clear from the very beginning of what Papa said and also Mama that if I don’t want to do it then I don’t have to. And that has taken a lot of pressure off me.”

PH: “What was your biggest talent?”

Mick: “The first lap. These one-on-one battles, the first laps, let’s say when I didn’t start from pole to always fight my way up to the front when the field was very compact, making the right decisions, which line to take, or when I started from the front to have a kind of calmness and to not take on the pressure but to start the race relaxed.”

PH: “Timo is also saying that about you, Timo Glock (former F1 pilot and current fellow Sky Germany host) because I talked to him about you before I talked to you. He said what had always been impressive about Mick was his racing intelligence. To know when to do what, he said that is really distinctive with you. Would you agree?”

Mick: “Yeah, I would agree. It’s a lot of fun for me, so it might be a bit easier for me.”

PH: “You started your Formula career via karting, with Van Amersfoort, which memories do you have of that time?”

Mick: “My first year in Formula 4… (I remember) That those were the first 2 weekends that I had, so the first 6 races in my career and they were an absolute rollercoaster. From an average race to win to a crash to a broken thumb, it was all within those first 6 races that I had, but it was still a very nice time. I learned a lot from Van Amersfoort and definitely took it with me to my second season that I then did with Prema and yeah, where it went relatively well.”

PH: “Fritz van Amersfoort said that you above all always tried to improve, looked at where those possibilities were, such a meticulousness that you have taken with you from how you learned it.”

Mick: “Yes, I think so, too. I had it in me then and it guided me throughout my whole career, this ‘always try to improve and always trying to get the best out of the package that you had’.”

PH: “Then you went on to Prema, Formula 3, Formula 2, and particularly in the second seasons always taking the big leaps. Why was that do you think? That you always needed the first year to settle in? Was that normal?”

Mick: “No, we had some difficulties in the first year with technical problems that you can’t really see. We were always well off regarding the speed, ehm.. so we could’ve been further up in the championship, but that’s all history in the end. We won in the second year and that’s what counts.”

PH: “When was it clear to you that the step up to Formula 1 was happening?”

Mick: “With the Formula 3 victory.”

PH: “In Spa?” (Referring to Mick’s first race win in F3)

Mick: “No, with the championship”

PH: “Ah okay, I thought. But the first race win was in Spa?”

Mick: “Yes, the first win was in Spa, with the first pole position and the first win. But to win the championship was the first moment for me when I thought ‘I can do it’ and that I do have a little talent to be able to make it.”

PH: “When you said ‘Phew, I can do it!’ – were there doubts along the way?”

Mick: “Doubts? I think if you don’t drive without any then you would never try to achieve the 100%. And I think it’s very important as a racing driver but also a person to doubt yourself – of course to a certain degree – but, to always try to get better, and to get the best out of yourself. If you’re too self-assured, then you’ll say ‘Oh well, I achieved everything’ and you lean back and then.. it starts going backward.”

PH: “How was the transition then? I remember when we met in 2019 at Nürburgring when you were supposed to drive for Alfa (Romeo), the first free practice, and it rained too hard that it didn’t work out. Many believed back then it could work out with Alfa and in the end it was Haas, take us with you again on this journey.”

Mick: “Ehm.. I mean the Formula 2 season was that you had the last race in Europe in Monza and then you had this big break before the last race in Abu Dhabi. Ehh, Bahrain, sorry. And in between was (F1) Nürburgring, for example, where we were supposed to drive the FP1, but didn’t due to the weather. And then it was clear that for the last race of Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi I was supposed to drive the last FP1 for Haas. What went quite well for me. I was feeling well very quickly and yeah, it became clear pretty quickly that that would be the next step for me for the next year. And I then won the championship, which was my first goal before getting into Formula 1, the first goal I then reached, the second goal still being open, which is to become World Champion, so.. I’m still working on that.”

PH: “Which I’m sure is going to work out. Mick, regarding the decision, when that happened, how was it to reach this milestone for you?”

Mick: “You can only be 100% sure when it’s signed by both parties. And when that was the case I was really happy, that I got this chance. But when I was really, really happy was when I drove the first race.”

PH: “How was that first meeting with Günther Steiner, do you still remember it?”

Mick: “Pfft.. Ehh.. In Bahrain when I did the seat fit. That was the first time when I met Günther.”

PH: “What was your first impression back then?”

Mick: “Well, back then ‘Drive to Survive’ was already out, so I had an impression of Günther, already, but yeah, it was like you would imagine.”

PH: “That first year in Formula 1 was under hard circumstances anyway, I believe, with Haas practically knocked off, basically driving the race for oneself. And what you had to do, to beat your teammate Nikita Mazepin at the time, you did. What did you take with you in this first year?”

Mick: “Yeah, we had our highs two or three times, with a Q2 appearance, which wasn’t thinkable at that time, but we did it and that was really nice. The first one was in Turkey, the second one was in Paul Ricard. But if you drive a car that is soo inferior, I mean our highest downforce setup, the Monaco downforce, was even higher than the downforce setup for Ferrari. So that’s how you can imagine that it had nothing to do with it (the 2021 Haas). And even if I drive the cars now, from Mercedes for example, the 2021 car that I drove at Goodwood, which I was allowed to test prior at Silverstone, that has nothing to do with it (the 2021 Haas). So it makes sense why Lewis and Valterri were able to drive those times when we really had to fight for, but I personally think that it’s good that I also achieved something with the car that I had at that time. Of course, it was a bit different in the season after that, but you couldn’t really learn a lot when you’ve only ever taken a look at your own data and didn’t really have a comparison and the team expects you to develop the car but we didn’t have any experience from Formula 2 how to develop a car, so those are all processes that you learn from a teammate of course, who might have some experience, or needs the time to learn it himself. In that case, I sadly didn’t have the time to really learn that myself.”

PH: “And in the second year, Nikita Mazepin had to leave after testing, Kevin Magnussen came – who came back from pre-retirement in a way – as your teammate. How was the dynamic within the team before the season started in Bahrain?”

Mick: “The dynamic was positive, of course everyone was happy that Kevin was back, and had placed their bets on him in that case. It was the first time for me to be able to collect experience from a teammate. Sadly, because we had such difficulties within the first year, we adopted some habits, that fit that (2021) car really well, but not to the new one. Which we then tried to change with new setups and whatnot and Kevin simply drove, which we probably should’ve done, too. Because those are such minor details, which when you have too few people who are looking after two cars will of course get difficult. But yeah, we made the best out of what we got and still had some few successes throughout that whole year that were positive.”

PH: “You have pressured yourself a bit too, then, with the crash that you had in Saudi Arabia, in Monaco was another one, the situation with Sebastian Vettel, where you had the duel where you could’ve driven into the points where it didn’t work out in the end – how did you experience it back then for yourself? Also what came then, from your team principle, from Günther Steiner, from your team principle? Would you have needed something different to be able to show the bets you’ve got?”

Mick: “I mean I don’t want to justify myself there, but there is more about the crash and the situations than meets the eye. Because there were things there that were depicted way worse – about the crashes and about me – than they actually were. And of course, if you then have a person that is very active in the media who is taking this thing with them and is building this thing up in a way that it didn’t have to be built up in. Of course, it wasn’t ideal, it was not ideal. Because everyone crashes. And in that situation in Saudi Arabia, I was relatively happy that I was okay and certain people then started talking about something else that was unnecessary and.. just tried to.. to make a complicated situation out of a situation. Didn’t really like that, and yeah, I’m with you there, I could’ve needed something different, especially when I’m looking at how it’s actually supposed to be when I’m at my new role at Mercedes with Toto Wolff, but also with different team principles, for example at McLaren or Williams, then the two 2 years had nothing to do with it. You can’t expect your drivers to be able to show their best when they’re not supported in the right kind of way. So much about that. But I learned a lot, I learned a lot as a person and in the end, no one will ever give you flowers, you have to pick them yourself, I know that now. And I feel ready to fight again and to show what I can actually do because I think a lot of people don’t actually know what I can do.”

PH: “Mick, what I have always found very admirably, which I think I’ve always told you, is the calmness that you had. You were never rattled by anyone, were always in balance, and were able to free yourself from that pressured situation, by driving into the points, in Austria, in Silverstone, the curve went upwards, and that despite the little experience that you have. When you now look back at that situation, would you still say that you would’ve done something differently, that you should’ve stepped back at one point and said ‘Until here and no further’? Or are you at peace with yourself and would say everything was okay the way it went for myself and for my part?”

Mick: “In the end, you are always wiser. I always say ‘Woulda shoulda coulda’, it is how it is, I experienced the situation how I did and handled it how I did, and looking back, sure, you can always do something differently. Would you want to do something differently? Maybe. But all in all, I am the person I am today because of those experiences. If I tried to undo all my mistakes retrospectively or to improve them, I would not have the desire now to improve myself. I am the person I am today because of the experience I have had, and I know what I am able to do and what I am worth and can, hopefully when I get the next chance, do it better accordingly.”

PH: “You have already described it a bit how it is with Toto Wolff, for example, who is looking after you – how would assess the next year? All of the German Formula and motorsport community is hoping for you for you to drive in Formula 1 again. What do you think is happening now? Which options do you have?”

Mick: “Well there is not a lot moving at the moment, a lot of the drivers are set, a lot of the drivers have a set long term contract, of which many end at the end of next year, so we have to see. The season is still long. I am in touch with Toto a lot, we think about what we can do daily. But in the end the decision is not mine to make, sadly. I can only present myself and say ‘This is what you can get, this is what you can expect’. I know that I have yet a lot to give, that I want to show a lot more, can show more, and that’s what I fight for now.”

PH: “What you can also see with Alex Albon, who also made it back to Formula 1 with a little detour. Is there a Plan B for next year, in case it’s not working out with Formula 1?”

Mick: “Sadly, I have to say yes, there is a Plan B, but I have to talk about that a little later on. Yes, there is a Plan B.”

PH: “What do you wish for, for the future?”

Mick: “Well hopefully another chance in Formula 1, that is my goal, that is what I want to do, where I see myself. That is my life. I have worked 15 years of my life towards it and won’t settle for being out after 2 years. Therefore, that’s my goal, that’s what I want to do, that’s what I fight for now and will do my best.”

PH: “Our fingers are crossed! Mick, thank you!”

#mick schumacher #mick translations #oh wow a lot to unpack here!😶#this felt like i was watching mick attending a therapy session #but loved the way he slandered in a perfect media trained way #the 'you can only be 100% sure when it’s signed by both parties.' sounded a lot like what went down at the end of 2022 tbh and i hate it!#and someone give that man a self picked bouqet of flowers!! 😭😭#some strong miley cyrus quotation happening here #and it sadly also sounds like mick knows he prob has to and will go through with a plan b next season #as he said there are just not enough seats this year #pls enjoy my fingers definitnely need a break now 🥲#(posting this again cause it didnt appear in the tags)

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