Johnny Herbert says he saw “Michael come out” in Mick Schumacher at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Haas driver finally scored his first points in Formula 1 at Silverstone and followed it up with an impressive P6 at the Red Bull Ring.
After the Sprint at Spielberg, however, Schumacher voiced frustration at Haas for not ushering him ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen despite believing he was faster.
Wow!! Just watched Mick’s interview looks like it’s Michael Schumacher speaking. The aggression, the eyes, the frustration everything. Never seen him like this before.#mickschumacher #mick #F1 #AustrianGP #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/b5tryZ0tXf
— W2W (@wheel2wheelf1) July 9, 2022
And that moment resonated with Herbert, who was teammates with Michael Schumacher at Benetton during the 1990s.
“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,” the Briton told Sky Sports.
“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.”
Herbert added: “I think the way he’s grown in recent times, getting that result [at Silverstone] was 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’, he did that under pressure.”
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2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg agreed, believing Schumacher can also benefit from the fickle nature of F1.
“Mick has had a difficult few weeks and we are all happy that he has now made a nice breakthrough,” he told Eurosport. “Formula 1 is fast-moving. He had to take a lot of criticism.
“When I open the newspapers these days, I don’t read any criticism of him at all.
“It only took one race, an eighth place, a cool duel with Verstappen in Great Britain and everything is forgotten. That’s the crazy thing about our sport, but also the beauty for Mick.
“Psychologically, this is of tremendous value to him because he is now finding a positive mental spiral. That carries him and that helps him in the coming races.”
Highlighting how the mood around Schumacher has changed, former F1 driver Hans-Joachim Stuck claimed any top teams looking for a new driver should be considering Mick for 2023.
“I don’t see it that way,” Rosberg responded “he still needs time to develop. The past races have shown that.
“So it would make sense for him to take his time before targeting a top team.
“We also saw that with George Russell, who drove at Williams for three years and then was ready to move up to Mercedes. You don’t have to rush into anything.”
