Mick Schumacher will kick off his second season in F1 next weekend in Bahrain, and he'll do it in the familiar environment of a team – Haas – with which he now feels "super comfortable".
Schumacher endured a tough apprenticeship in 2021, cutting his teeth at the rear of the field onboard a car that his team could not afford to develop, having channeled its resources early on into its all-new VF-22 contender.
There were no significant results to speak of last year, save for the odd good qualifying performance or his strong defense in the midfield against Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
But the young German nevertheless acquitted himself well, accumulating a wealth of experience while consistently outpacing his then teammate Nikita Mazepin.
©Haas
"A lot has changed since my first race with the team," said Schumacher in Haas' Bahrain GP preview.
"First and foremost, the way I feel in the team is great, I feel super comfortable and really happy and ready to take on this new challenge of the VF-22.
"It’s been great to be a part of the development of it and to see it now in one piece and be able to drive it and feel all the hard work that has been put in by the whole team. Seeing it come to life is quite special."
However, pre-season testing was anything but clear sailing for the US outfit, with its VF-22 lacking reliability, which crucially impacted the team's mileage and therefore its development programmes.
But on his sessions in testing, and especially on the extra track time that he enjoyed late on Saturday evening at Sakhir during which he set the fastest time, albeit in favourable conditions, Schumacher believes Haas is "in a good space".
©Haas
"Although we didn’t really get the full opportunity to try everything nonetheless, the car feels good," he said.
"There are a huge number of differences to how this car feels compared to last year, especially coming back to this track and having driven here, you really feel them.
"In terms of where we stack against the rest of the grid, it’s very hard to say.
"I think we’re in a good space where we’re feeling positive about many things and hopefully, we’ll be able to show everyone we’ve made the right steps and the car is in a better place than we were last year, and I don’t think that’s awfully difficult to achieve."
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