Schumacher explains how COVID-19 impacted preparation for debut F1 season
Mick Schumacher has revealed he was forced to spend a week quarantining before he could visit the Haas Formula 1 factory to complete a seat fit.
Due to the United Kingdom's coronavirus restrictions, visitors must complete a seven day mandatory quarantine period as well as two COVID-19 tests.
COVID restrictions have also meant Haas hasn't been able to fire up its car and won't do so until the start of the Bahrain test next Friday.
With the American outfit building the VF-21 in the UK, it would need Ferrari engineers from Italy to assist starting up the car and team boss Guenther Steiner admitted it simply wasn't possible due to the lengthy quarantine process that would have been required.
Reflecting on his preparations for his rookie campaign, Schumacher said it was difficult due to the COVID restrictions but “worth it” in the end.
“Obviously it hasn’t been easy, travelling to England has been very restricted and therefore it was very difficult for me to get my seat fit done,” Schumacher said.
“Obviously we have had a plan and then the rules changes and I had to self-quarantine, and I had to find a spot where I could give up 10 days basically to make myself room to go to the team for one and a half days, which is not a lot for basically seven days of quarantining, so yeah it wasn’t easy. We eventually got to it and managed to do a fit.
“The fit was a very long day, we started at 8am and finished at 10.30pm, so it was a long day, but it was worth it, we got the seat done, it feels good on the outside. A seat is always very special, it feels very good when stationary but the moment you drive it feels crap so it’s something we’ll have to figure out on track and after that we’ll deal with the modifications we have to, but I have a good seat and it’s about perfecting it.”
Explaining further about the quarantine process, he said: “I had to self-quarantine, arrived from England in one spot, and basically stay there for the amount of time that was given to me, and after the results came back negative I could go to the team.”
Even though the physical demands and the G-forces experienced while driving an F1 car are significantly greater to than in F2 and other categories, Schumacher admitted his training regime hasn't changed too drastically.
“It’s been a bit different, not very different,” Schumacher added. “We’ve been kind of training since I’ve been 15 or 16 so gradually, always loading more training into it, getting more physically strong. I started at 15, I’m now 22, it’s a big number for me really. Physically I’m getting stronger, so the training intensifies.
“Definitely, my main focus has been neck training, I’ve been training my neck since mid-December every day, also through Christmas. I feel very fit, I feel very good so now just looking forward to getting the car out on track and showing what I can do.”
