Mick Schumacher cites new seat "lucky charm" for stunning qualifying

Schumacher, Haas, Turkey — Photo: © LAT Images

Turkish Grand Prix

Schumacher cites new seat "lucky charm" for stunning qualifying

The Haas driver stormed into Q2

Ewan Gale

Saturday 9 October 2021 19:00

Mick Schumacher joked a fix to his crooked seat was his "lucky charm" after a stunning performance saw the Haas rookie compete in Q2 for the first time in F1.

The German excelled in the damp-dry conditions to qualify 14th for the Turkish Grand Prix after a last-gasp effort in Q1 saw him qualify beyond the first session for only the second time this season.

The first occasion was in France, where Schumacher crashed out at the end of Q1 and was unable to take part in the second session.

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Earlier this season, Sebastian Vettel was seen to be investigating the inside of the Haas cockpit alongside Schumacher, with the F2 champion explaining he raced with a wonky seat due to his build.

This has now been replaced with a new seat this weekend. He explained: "I had the new seat, maybe that is the lucky charm. We will keep it and hopefully it will be good."

Turning focus to his qualifying efforts, Schumacher added: "We got to drive this one!

"Happy to do that and happy to get the chance to even think about Q3. I know it is farfetched but it would have been great to have that opportunity and again, the car felt great. We, as a team, did a good job and I'm just really, really happy right now."

Schumacher unsure of Q3 chances

Schumacher was one of two drivers to attempt to qualify in Q2 on soft tyres but his hopes of challenging for a top-10 spot as the track evolved was taken away when Lance Stroll triggered yellow flags at turn one as the Haas wound up for his final attempt.

Assessing his opportunity to reach Q3, Schumacher said: "I think taking into consideration that George [Russell] had a mistake in the last corner and he was on a very good lap, I don't know how much further I would have gone.

"If I would have had my last lap, I think I could have improved by two or three tenths not knowing how much the track evolution was, just by pure driving improvements so I think definitely there was some in it.

"I don't know if it was possible but Yuki [Tsunoda] just slid in with the C4 and I think we were quite level with Yuki in Q2.

"Maybe it wasn't that far after all but I think we just didn't have the tyre at the time to do the biggest jump we were hoping for."