Mick Schumacher believes his first championship points in Formula 1 are on the horizon given the strength of Haas VF-22 as demonstrated by teammate Kevin Magnussen.
The Dane lined up P8 on Sunday's grid at Imola which had been determined by the sprint event the day before. But Schumacher achieved his best career start in F1 thanks to his tenth-place finish in Saturday's 21-lap mad dash.
Alas, the young German failed to capitalize on his sprint result due to a half-spin on the opening lap of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that set him back seven positions in the pecking order.
But the 23-year-old was also caught out later on in the race when he indulged in a second spin at the Variante Alta chicane.
"The start wasn't great, which made everything more difficult than necessary," he admitted after the race.
"Overall, it was quite tight going through Turns 2 and 3. I think there were quite a few cars next to each [other] and there were cars spinning ahead.
"It was never going to make things easy but, unfortunately, we had that half-spin which just cost us a lot of positions."
As Magnussen battled all afternoon among the top-ten, proving once again the underlying strength of Haas' new-generation car, Schumacher lingered at the bottom of the field, crossing the checkered flag P17.
Yet Schumacher feels that his first points in F1 are around the corner.
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"Definitely. I think we had the pace to be around P10," he commented. "I think it's not the first time we had the chance for points; I think we had [it] multiple times already this year.
"It was just a matter of it being too tight going through Turns 2 and 3. Maybe [I was] risking a little bit too much after a poor start.
"Obviously, from there on, it doesn't really matter what happens, just because you're trying so hard to get back to it.
"Even if I hadn't lost it at the chicane on the wet grass, it wouldn't have changed our position in that case."
As usual, Sky Germany's Ralf Schumacher was attentive to his nephew's efforts. But the six-time Grand Prix winner was anything but impressed with Mick's performance.
"He did a good job in dry conditions, and the result in the Sprint was great, but there were too many mistakes in the race," Ralf said.
"Starting in rainy conditions is difficult. Even Daniel Ricciardo slid wide. It can happen to anyone. But the second mistake was just too much. It has to be said that this shouldn't happen."
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