From clumsy accidents to lightening starts: Mick Schumacher’s F2 career
Mick has never been afraid to attempt an overtake. Luckily (or maybe not) for everyone, he really finessed his skills over the course of his F2 career, going from clumsy accidents to overtaking the whole grid on the first lap and stealthily taking the 2020 F2 championship crown. Let’s relive every moment (because what else is there to do when there’s no racing?).
At the start of his F2 career in 2019, the whole motorsport world expected unexpected things from Mick, which was weird because his junior career showed a clear pattern of taking one season to get up to speed, but let’s never allow facts to get in the way of hope of a good story.
Bahrain 2019
If Mick wanted to ease into the season quietly, he went about it the totally wrong way, by coming eighth in the first round Feature Race in Bahrain, leading to POLE POSITION for the Sprint Race. We were all hyped, surely he would win!? He was going to win on the first weekend of the year, and he was going to win everything from then on and become an F1 driver, probably before the season had even finished, and then win that too. It was going to be Schumacher magic.
He of course did not win, which is totally fine and normal for a complete rookie, but still disappointing, not because he didn’t do well, but because we, as a motorsport community, were unable to manage our own expectations.
Azerbaijan 2019
After that, we were still unable to manage our expectations, the bar had been set high. As a result, the next round at Azerbaijan was full disappointment and also full chaos, most of which was caused by Schumacher himself at the start of the race; a few laps later he was out after spinning. He fared better in the Sprint Race, making his way up to sixth, before barging his teammate Sean Gelael out the way to take fifth. An excellent recovery to the points, even though Gelael may not have felt that way.
Spain 2019
By Spain, starts were still somewhat of an issue for Schumacher, as he got into an accident at the start of the Feature Race. He was lucky to only get a puncture and was able to carry on, only to later crash with Juan Manuel Correa and drive about with a visibly broken wing while complaining “I think there’s something wrong with my car.” He finished 15th.
During the Sprint Race, Mick was determined to make his way up to the points, barging past teammate Gelael again. On the final lap, Schumacher attempted to pass Jack Aitken, but instead just hit Aitken, went off track, cut the corner, and came back on ahead of his rival. This was a clear no from the stewards and he subsequently got a five-second penalty and finished 12th.
Monaco 2019
Next up was Monaco, which was a special kind of Schumacher-2019-season chaos. Things started off well, as he was fast in qualifying and then, at the start of the Feature Race, Ilott ahead of him stalled on the grid, leaving a lovely big space for Schumacher to launch into the lead. However, his lightening starts were still only a thing of the distant future, and instead he was slow and got overtaken off the line. Later in the race, going for an ambitious overtake, Schumacher rammed into Tatiana Calderón. They stopped. Everyone stopped. The streets of Monaco became nothing more than a very expensive (even by Monaco standards) traffic jam. The marshals then had to push ALL the cars back to the pits; it was a full operation which understandably took an age. When the race finally got back underway, Schumacher got a drive-through penalty for causing the crash as well as a time penalty for cutting a corner, and everyone else was left completely confused by the order that the cars had been put back on track, resulting in the entire race results being protested. No big deal.
France 2019
At the next round in France, Schumacher’s teammate Gelael finally got his own back for all the times Mick had barged past him, by crashing into Schumacher and launching him into the air. He subsequently landed with a puncture and that was the end of Schumacher’s Feature Race. The Sprint Race didn’t go much better for him, making the weekend a double retirement.
Austria 2019
By Austria, we were still no closer to seeing 2020 Schumacher’s starting genius, as he stalled on the grid of the Feature Race, or his car broke, whatever. He finished 18th. The Sprint Race was a little more notable though, as he went from eighteenth to ninth in just eight laps, before being helped out by Anthoine Hubert and Jack Aitken tangling with each other in front of him, allowing him to overtake. Next down the road was Jordan King, whose tyres were dead, then some other stuff happened and there was a Safety Car, after which Schumacher overtook Zhou for fourth and was right behind third-placed Nyck de Vries. From 18th to the podium would have been a real dream story, particularly with the Schumacher name attached to it, but De Vries had a championship to win and decided to prioritise his own racing career over that glorious tale, and so Schumacher’s tremendous feat was forgotten.
Great Britain 2019
Schumacher was the sole Prema racing at Silverstone because teammate Gelael had a tantrum about a steward’s decision and went to do something else instead, like sitting at home being grumpy. It was apparently an unremarkable weekend for Schumacher because all I wrote about him was that he went off track at the start of the Feature Race, along with Nobuharu Matsushita. He came eleventh in that race and sixth in the Sprint Race; too mid-field to be worth mentioning apparently.
Hungary 2019
Hungary really was the moment we’d all been waiting for, in so many ways. Firstly, qualifying was wet and we got to see a bit of the Schumacher rainmeister genes, as he qualified in fourth place. Then he finished the Feature Race in eighth, which would have been disappointing, given his starting position, except that it meant reverse grid POLE for the Sprint Race. Surely he couldn’t fail us a second time…
At the start of the race, the experienced Matsushita challenged Mick for the lead, but Schumacher kept him behind, and there Matsushita stayed, along with the rest of the field, as Schumacher went for a lights-to-flag victory. His first in F2. The crowds went wild (by F2 standards), the Ferrari personnel gathered, and the press asked utterly stupid questions in their Schumacher hysteria, “Is your Mum here Mick?” Thanks Daily Mail, good use of press accreditation there.
Italy 2019
By the time we reached Italy, the highs of his Hungarian victory were far behind. During the Feature Race, Schumacher lost power and, after dropping back through the whole field, went into the pits to retire, but then un-retired, only eight laps down, which must have been real fun. He finished the race, albeit unclassified. For the Sprint Race he went from fourteenth to sixth, probably helped by the magic of the Monza slipstream, but who can remember back that far?
Russia 2019
Things did not go well in Russia. For the Feature Race, Schumacher spent quite a lot of time driving around with smoke coming out of the back of his car, much to the annoyance of King who was stuck behind him, but he eventually pitted to retire. A second retirement in the Sprint Race probably didn’t make it the best weekend to remember. No one was paying attention though because De Vries was too busy wining the championship.
Abu Dhabi 2019
For the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi, Schumacher looked well on his way to taking eighth place (reverse grid pole) in the Feature Race, but got himself caught up in a very 90s sounding battle with Alesi. Alesi overtook Schumacher for eighth, but for some totally unknown reason (thanks Race Control) Alesi was carrying a five-second time penalty to be added at the end of the race. Try as he might, Schumacher couldn’t stay within five seconds of Alesi and he ended the race in ninth instead. This left him finishing 11th in the Sprint Race and 12th overall in the F2 championship.
Austria 2020
The 2020 season obviously started off weirdly and not until July, but let’s face it, we’re all used to this kind of weird by now so I won’t dwell on it. Needless to say, the stakes were higher for Schumacher in his second year, no longer able to hide behind rookie status and up against a highly rated teammate in F3 champion Robert Shwartzman, who just happened to also be a Ferrari Academy driver. No pressure.
In the first race at Austria, Schumacher really got everyone to take notice of him by crashing into a gravel trap, all on his own, after a Safety Car restart. He somehow managed to finish the race in eleventh place though, which I guess says something. He had a pretty anonymous Sprint Race, finishing in seventh.
Styria 2020
The second round in Austria, aka Styria, was wet, which obviously gave Schumacher an advantage over the other basic drivers who lack Schumacher rain magic. After surviving much better than everyone else and driving past some people, Schumacher looked as though third place might be his, but somehow Zhou managed to hold him off and just about kept the last podium spot, which was probably most sad for Schumacher because he missed out on the first-hand experience of the podium robots. Can’t believe they didn’t catch on.
Schumacher had his eyes set on third place in the Sprint Race too, but alas there was to be no robot-filled podium celebrations for him, as instead the fire extinguisher in his car went off and he had to retire.
Hungary 2020
Things started well for Schumacher in Hungary, having done some good overtaking and stuff to go from third to first, but then it went less well as his teammate Shwartzman made a late pitstop and was flying through the field on new tyres. There was nothing Schumacher could do, Shwartzman went by and then Mazepin did the same, leaving Schumacher back in third. He did not look pleased. Schumacher got third again in the Sprint Race, but this time he was very pleased. The double podium suddenly meant good championship points and he was up to fourth in the overall standings.
Great Britain 2020
Schumacher qualified well at Silverstone and was in the lead early on, but his strategy was all wrong, meaning he got overtaken by everyone whose strategy was right. The whole race was manic and everyone ended up in the opposite place to where they started. Schumacher was ninth. The Sprint Race was similar levels of unsuccessful, ending in 14th place for Mick.
70th Anniversary
With things having gone so well for Mick at the first round of Silverstone, I’m sure he was looking forward to doing it all again at the 70th Anniversary race. An anonymous Feature Race put Schumacher in seventh place, which might’ve been a disappointment to him, but anonymity was probably something he desperately wished for after the Sprint Race when he crashed into his teammate, taking him out of the LEAD OF THE RACE. Schumacher came second, but I bet there wasn’t much celebrating at Prema. There has never been another human alive as forlorn as Schumacher standing on that podium, mumbling apologies and hiding under his hat.
Spain 2020
Spain was really all about Drugovich, but Schumacher still put in a good performance, surviving the last lap melée of the Feature Race and coming out of it in sixth place, while in the Sprint Race he secured another podium, coming in third.
Belgium 2020
Schumacher was one of the only drivers not to get a penalty during the Belgian Feature Race and as a result finished in third, which was by now becoming his standard spot. As such, he decided to do the same in the Sprint Race, taking a double podium, which was also now becoming a habit.
Italy 2020
Schumacher started the weekend in Italy by crashing into the barriers during qualifying, but still somehow qualified in seventh. He didn’t let starting mid-field get in his way though and simply overtook everyone before the first corner, from seventh to second like it was nothing. After a bad pitstop from race leader Callum Ilott, there was nothing left for Schumacher to do except steal the win, taking his first F2 Feature Race in style. Schumacher also managed to maintain his double-podium streak courtesy of Sprint Race winner Dan Ticktum getting disqualified when an issue with his car meant he didn’t have enough fuel left at the end of the race, promoting Mick up to third. Such consistent points meant that Schumacher was suddenly second in the championship and close behind leader Ilott.
Tuscany 2020
Schumacher was the first of many to hit the gravel trap during qualifying in Tuscany, he was also one of many to hit someone after the Safety Car restart in the Feature Race, although somehow still finished in fifth, securing solid points. He did the same again in the Sprint Race (scored solid points that is, not hit people). He came home in fourth, but had his double-podium crown taken away from him for the weekend by Louis Delétraz, not that Mick probably cared because by this time he had made it to the top of the championship leader board.
Russia 2020
By Russia, Schumacher had obviously stopped feeling sheepish about the crashing into his teammate thing and instead stole Shwartzman’s pit stop. This worked out great for Schumacher, but less so for Shwartzman, whose stop was slow, and Prema who got a weird fine. Despite having tough competition from Ilott and Tsunoda, Schumacher fought them both off to take an impressive win and suddenly everyone noticed that he really was a championship contender. He also returned as king of the double podium, coming third in the Sprint Race, which was cut short by Aitken and Ghiotto having a horrible accident.
Bahrain 2020
While the world had only really just noticed that Mick Schumacher was very much in the running for the championship, it was actually possible for him to wrap the whole thing up in Bahrain. This plan was scuppered a bit by him qualifying in tenth, while his title rival, qualifying hero Callum Ilott was on pole, except that, at the start of the Feature Race, Schumacher also used used his super power of legendary starts and was instantly fourth. It was very close and exciting. Despite apparently battling everyone at some point for third place, Schumacher remained in fourth, while Ilott finished second, keeping the championship alive.
The Sprint Race gave us the full Schumacher/Ilott showdown we had been waiting for, except it was cut short by a Safety Car and then ruined after the restart, as Schumacher locked up and went wide, while Ilott ploughed into the side of Jehan Daruvala just ahead of them both. Ilott’s race was basically over and Schumacher carried on unscathed and one place further ahead thanks to Ilott taking out Daruvala. Schumacher finished seventh, which wasn’t enough to close the championship, and so the battle went on to the final round, which was still in Bahrain.
Sakhir 2020
Schumacher was admittedly a bit unlucky to have to deal with the championship decider at the unknown track of craziness that was the Bahrain outer circuit. Sure, no one had ever driven this thing before, the traffic was bad, it was bumpy and weird, but no pressure. Mick obviously didn’t think the whole thing was exciting enough though, as he crashed during qualifying, giving Ilott a nice advantage and us the prospect of a very exciting weekend. His start at the Feature Race wasn’t his normal levels of good either, only making up two places, and leaving him with lots of work to do, which he dutifully did, managing to catch up to just behind Ilott, who also wasn’t doing his best. They finished in fifth and sixth, dragging the championship into the last race of the season.
At the start of the Sprint Race, Schumacher who was in third, yet again decided he wanted to make things even more exciting for us, by locking up MASSIVELY, completely flat spotting his tyre to the point where you could see how hideous the vibration was from the onboard camera. He struggled on, fighting everyone, including holding Ilott off for quite a while, but when Ilott finally got past, Schumacher couldn’t take any more and headed to the pits for an unscheduled stop, putting him right to the back of the field and Ilott back in with a chance of taking the championship. Luckily for Schumacher though, Ilott had wrecked his tyres fighting Mick earlier, and couldn’t get to the position he needed to get the points required to take championship victory. The title was Schumacher’s and it was emotional.