Mick Schumacher’s overtake on Nicholas Latifi in Portugal was a “good demonstration” of his potential, according to Ross Brawn.
On a day when Williams struggled at Portimao, the F2 champion was able to catch and pass the Canadian in his first competitive race with Haas after incidents in Bahrain and Imola.
For Schumacher that performance vindicated the work going on at the American team, as he believed more would have been possible.
“We had a lot more pace. It was unfortunate we didn’t get by [Latifi] earlier because I think otherwise we had a decent race in terms of lap time in front of us,” Schumacher said post-race.
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“Maybe we could have even caught up to George [Russell], but I feel like we were a big, big step forwards from where we were at Imola and I think if we keep on making those steps we will be in a very good place at the end of the year.
“We are creeping up, getting closer and closer with every day and the team is working so hard to really to give us the car we need.
“I feel like with every day we are getting closer to having that perfect car.”
As one of the most influential men in his father Michael’s legendary career, Brawn is very close to Schumacher Jr and was pleased by his first significant moment in F1.
“It’s clear the Haas is not one of the most competitive cars on the grid, so Mick Schumacher knew what he would be facing in his rookie season,” he wrote in his post-race column for Formula1.com.
“But you need to do what you can with what you have and the little moments count, such as today, when he heaped the pressure on Nicholas Latifi and forced him into a mistake to take the position.
“This was certainly a good demonstration of his potential.”