Schumacher: "In Baku you have to be in the right place"

Mick Schumacher and the entire Haas F1 Team are having a tough time this year. Something that was calculated in advance of course. After a difficult weekend in Monaco the F1 circus now heads to Baku. It is not the first time for the young German.

After all, he has already gained enough experience in F2 in Azerbaijan. He can point out the differences, as he tells in a Q/A on the site of Haas. "“Well obviously it’s going to be my first start in a Formula 1 car in Baku, for sure it’s going to be different as it’ll be a lot faster. It was a track in my early Formula 2 career I felt I got along with pretty well. We were on the verge of making it to the podium, or P4 at least, in the Sprint race. Unfortunately, in the Feature race I had a mistake which led to a DNF, but nonetheless we caught it back in the Sprint race coming from the back of the field into the top five." Schumacher also knows that he has to take every opportunity at this track.

"It’s a race where anything can happen, we’ve seen that in previous years. It’s a track where opportunities open, and if you’re in the right place, you can benefit hugely from it – that’s what we’re aiming for. We should be open minded going into the race and take the opportunities that are given to us."

Different from Monaco

We've heard many drivers say it, and Mick Schumacher joins this list. "It’s a lot wider, with more concrete walls – where Monaco it’s more guard rails, Baku is a lot more walls. It’s a kind of a lowish to medium downforce race track, you have to keep the grip for the 90-degree corners in the tight section through the Old Town, then you have the long straights which creates a lot of overtaking opportunities hopefully."

The German continued. "I’m definitely looking forward to it, it’s a great track, and I was there in 2019. It’s a fun track. The long run down to turn one, if you have a good start, you can benefit from it really well, but if you have a bad start it will pay you loads. It’s also important to have a good qualifying in order to be in the mix and to fight with the guys around us." Whether Schumacher will actually duel much with drivers around him remains to be seen.