Schumacher surprised by maiden F1 test results

Mick Schumacher says he did not expect to fare so well in his maiden Formula 1 test outings with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo in Bahrain this weekend.

Schumacher finished second overall in his first day of F1 testing for Ferrari on Tuesday, before switching to Alfa Romeo for Wednesday’s running when he set the sixth-fastest time.

The 20-year-old completed 126 laps across the two days at the Bahrain International Circuit, but said he had not thought about finishing so far up the timesheets prior to the outings.

“To be honest, no,” Schumacher said when asked if he expected such a performance before the test.

“But I guess that I had so much fun that it was easy to work on myself and work with the team. Both teams were very open and very good in teaching me all the points that I had to know.

“Over the whole day, I was able to improve and find the limit. You always feel a bit different, but in general, I was very happy in both teams.

“It’s hard to compare the two days. The cars in front were very quick, but I think we did a decent job and we can be happy with that.”

With his first F1 test week complete, Schumacher said his attention would now turn to his next Formula 2 race in Baku, Azerbaijan at the end of April.

“I’m just trying to take every single bit of those two days and really being able to transfer that to F2, try to use what I’ve learned here and try to put that onto the track,” Schumacher said.

“I’m looking forward to being in F2 again in Baku. It’s a special track, it’s going to be the first time for me. I’m going to do a lot of work with Prema in the sim, and prepare for that.”