Ferrari “somewhat surprised” by Schumacher’s progress in the rookie F1 season

Mick Schumacher’s progress during his first Formula One season was kind of a “surprise,” admits Ferrari’s senior performance engineer Jock Clear.

Schumacher made the move into F1 after taking the Formula 2 title last year and securing a seat with Haas for his rookie campaign.

The German left his team mate Nikita Mazepin behind and qualified throughout the first half of the year and achieved the best result with 12th place at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

During his junior career, Schumacher was known to take the time to adapt to a new series, but Clear said that based on his results so far, it wasn’t.

When asked if he was satisfied with Schumacher’s progress since his debut in Bahrain, Clear told the Beyond the Grid podcast, “Yes. And a little surprised.

“Of course we’ve been working with him for a long time for Ferrari in the junior academy or the Ferrari Driver Academy. We’ve been working with him for a while and we know him pretty well.

“To be honest, I’m pretty impressed with his incredible speed this year. People said to me earlier this year, ‘Yeah, but how is he going to deal with Mazepin?’ And I said I wouldn’t be surprised if Mazepin qualified him a few times afterwards because Mick takes a while to get going come – but actually not the case. “

Clear, who has been with Ferrari since 2015 and now heads its driver academy, worked alongside Schumacher’s seven-time world champion father Michael at Mercedes on his three-year comeback.

When asked to compare the two, Clear revealed that there are many similarities that Schumacher shares with both Michael and off-track.

“He’s so similar to his father in his mannerisms and accent, and that’s very nice in itself,” Clear said. “It reminds me of good days. I really enjoyed working with Michael.

“Mick is also a pleasant young man to deal with. That is not a matter of course; There are many racing drivers, they are successful, they do what they do … Mick is just a very, very pleasant young man in every way. So whatever he does in life, he will be very well served if he is just a top guy and gets along with people. “