Schumacher confident of Haas Portimão progress

Mick Schumacher is convinced there remains untapped potential in the Haas VF21 ahead of the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Haas has struggled for pace in the opening two races of the season and with the team stating openly the car will not be developed across the year, rookie drivers Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin must dig deep to make the most of the machinery at their disposal.

A season at the back of the grid appears likely but Schumacher remains certain he can extract more from both himself and the team around him.

“[At Imola] we as a team improved and obviously me as a driver, so both combined definitely has shown that there is still a lot of performance to be gained," said Schumacher.

"I am confident that coming to Portimão, hopefully, we will be able to do another step. “It’s a bit of [taking it] step by step but also a strong learning curve for me so I am very happy about how it is going right now.”

Although F1 raced at Portimão last year, it was not a race weekend that was supported by feeder series F2, making it the first circuit on this year's calendar Schumacher has no racing experience of.

“I tested there in 2018 in a GP2 car," he added. "It’s a great track, I really love driving on it. I think it’s like an old-school track, similar to Imola.

"It’s good for us too as teams don’t have a lot of experience there – just the experience from last year. I think that will bring the competition closer which is really good."

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