Schumacher makes "top driver" claim after Haas snub

Mick Schumacher has backed his ability to become a "top driver" despite losing his Haas seat for the 2023 F1 season.

The German will not feature on the grid next year after Haas elected to replace him with veteran Nico Hülkenberg.

Although Schumacher's pace was never questioned, his ability to convert this into points was a cause for concern, as was the number of heavy crashes suffered across the campaign.

But in Schumacher's opinion, the events of the last two years have been what any team should expect from a young driver.

“Many people have already said it but I think it is worth saying again - nobody was fully a complete driver in Formula 1 after two years and there is a lot to learn still," said Schumacher.

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“I intend to learn those bits and pieces and I’m sure that once I put everything together, as I have shown in junior categories, I’m sure that I can be a top driver in Formula 1 as well.”

Schumacher encouraged by upwards trend

Schumacher scored his only points finishes in the middle of the year at the British and Austrian grands prix.

Further scores were hindered by a lack of car development by Haas, but the 23-year-old insisted he saw a continued upward trend in his overall performances despite the results indicating otherwise.

“Grading or putting a number to it is not really right, because I don’t think anybody will do that," Schumacher added.

“For me personally, I know the trend which was there is what matters. You can see that consistent improvement across the course of the season and I have achieved some of the things that I wanted to achieve.

“Obviously, I haven’t managed everything but I wasn’t sure that I was going to reach those because it is Formula 1.

“It is obviously very different to all of the junior categories that I have had before."