Herbert: Schumacher anger 'is bringing Michael out'

Johnny Herbert says the anger Mick Schumacher displayed in Austria bore a close resemblance to his father Michael's trademark tough-minded attitude.

Schumacher achieved last weekend at the Red bull Ring his best result in F1 when he finished the Austrian Grand Prix sixth, two spots ahead of his Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen.

However, the day before, Schumacher's sprint race had been anything but a happy affair.

While the young German had ensured himself at the end of the 30-minute event a spot among the top-ten on the grid for Sunday's race, an order from the Haas pitwall to hold position behind Magnussen had upset the 23-year-old as it led to him conceding P9 to Lewis Hamilton.

Speaking to the media after the sprint, Schumacher cast an angry look that Herbert - who raced alongside Mick's father at Benetton in 1995 - described as a chip off the old block.

"Now we’re seeing Michael come out, dad, and that is the angry side and that is a very, very important part of being a racing driver," Herbert told Sky F1.

"When things aren’t quite going as you want them to do, you have got to make a point. It’s great to see that, because now we’re seeing the true Mick."

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After a difficult start to his 2022 campaign, marked by crashes in Jeddah and in Monaco that led to a warning from Haas team boss Guenther Steiner, Schumacher has raced flawlessly and scored his first career points as a Grand Prix driver.

Herbert believes the young German has matured on the back of his mistakes and learned from the latter.

"That tough crash in Saudi Arabia is something you have to learn from, this experience you sort of take on board, put it in a little box in the back of your head," added the former F1 driver.

"But I think it’s the way he’s grown in recent times, getting that result and so it’s absolutely essential for him to be honest with Guenther sort of pressurising him and saying ‘well, we’ve run out of time, you’ve got to get on with it.’

"And he did. And that is under pressure."

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