Sebastian Vettel believes that Mick Schumacher is acquitting himself well in his first formative season in F1 and helping Haas move forward.
Schumacher is undertaking his apprenticeship as a Grand Prix driver with unarguably the slowest team on the grid which is fielding a car that has evolved very little, if at all, since last season.
The young German's only reference is his teammate Nikita Mazepin whom he has outpaced in qualifying 12 to 3 so far this season.
However, points will be hard to come by for the duo, but Schumacher's mentor commends his protégé for upholding his motivation in such a difficult context.
“"It’s very difficult with the car," Vettel told Sky Germany. "Everyone knows that it is the weakest car in the field.
"And still to stay calm and show the consistency and also the motivation… We are in communication more often and I think he has pushed the whole team, even if the starting position is not easy."
From the day Mick Schumacher decided to follow his legendary father's path to the pinnacle of motorsport, Vettel has supported his young countryman's efforts just as Michael Schumacher was always on hand to give Vettel advice at the start of his own career in F1.
Although there is little time for conversation and exchanges during the race weekend, Vettel says he sometimes meets up with Schumacher at the end of a day's work when the two drivers' motorhomes are parked side by side at a European venue.
"If we are parked next to each other with the motorhomes, then there is a bit of time," said the Aston Martin driver.
"In any case, it is nice that the exchange continues to be active. I have always said that I am open to any tips I can give.
"Whether they are always useful is another question. But I am happy to give them."
Both drivers will be racing on in F1 next season, which will offer the pair more opportunities to meet up
"It’s nice that we are still motorhome neighbours," said Schumacher. "So I’m looking forward to it and probably one or two barbecue evenings."
With a year of experience under his belt and an all-new Haas car that will hopefully allow him to progress up the order, Schumacher says he'll be targeting points with the US outfit in 2022.
"Hopefully we’ll be in the mid-pack," said the 22-year-old. "I think that’s a goal that is achievable, we know we have started a bit earlier than everybody else on that project.
"We’ve spent for sure most of our budget of this year on ‘22, so hopefully that’ll just give us a bit of an edge, especially at the beginning of the year.
"Hopefully we’ll be able to say that we’re consistently in the points, I think that’d be a big step forwards and just know I’ll be working very, very hard to achieve that."
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