Was Mick Schumacher Really That Bad?

Summary

The video traces Mick Schumacher’s career through junior racing, Formula 1, sports cars and IndyCar, weighing his results against his crashes and the teams he drove for.

Junior series: slow starts, strong second seasons

• European Formula 3, 2017: In his first season with Prema, Schumacher finished 12th, last among the team’s four drivers. Lando Norris won the title.
• European Formula 3, 2018: Schumacher was 10th midway through the season, then won at Spa and surged to the championship with eight victories and a 57-point margin.
• Formula 2, 2019–20: His first season ended in 12th, with one sprint-race win from reverse-grid pole. In his second season, he won the 2020 title by 14 points over Callum Ilott.

The video identifies a recurring pattern in Schumacher’s career: finishing 12th in his first year, then becoming champion in his second.

Formula 1 with Haas

2021

Haas had an uncompetitive car and scored no points. Schumacher beat teammate Nikita Mazepin in all 20 qualifying sessions in which both set a time, and led their head-to-head among races both finished 11–3.

In Hungary, Schumacher crashed in final practice and missed qualifying. Starting from the back, he finished 12th and held off Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton for the first 15 laps.

2022

Kevin Magnussen replaced Mazepin shortly before the season. Magnussen returned to F1 with a fifth-place finish and scored in three of the first four races, while Schumacher scored no points in that opening stretch.

• Saudi Arabia: In round two, Schumacher crashed in qualifying at roughly 170 mph. The impact was measured at 33 Gs. He was checked in hospital and was fit to race, but the car was too badly damaged to repair with Haas’s available spares.
• Miami: Schumacher was running in the top 10 late in the race, but contact with Sebastian Vettel dropped him to 15th.
• Spain: After the car was rebuilt following a fire in final practice, Schumacher qualified 10th, his first Q3 appearance.
• Monaco: On a wet track, he ran slightly wide and a wheel touched a wet patch. The resulting crash tore the rear of the car away from the survival cell. Haas later said it had already exceeded its crash allowance in Jeddah.
• Canada: Schumacher qualified sixth in wet conditions and ran in the top 10, but a power-unit failure ended his race on lap 19.
• Silverstone: Starting 19th, he finished eighth for his first F1 points. He also battled Verstappen in the closing laps, later describing it as a learning experience.
• Austria: The following weekend, Schumacher finished sixth, a career best, ahead of Magnussen.

The Silverstone and Austria results were Schumacher’s only points finishes of the season; he scored 12 points in total. Across 2022, Magnussen beat Schumacher 16–6 in qualifying, while Schumacher finished ahead of him on race day 14–6. The video’s race comparison excludes Jeddah, where Schumacher did not start, and Monaco, where both drivers retired.

The video also cites a crash-damage bill of roughly $2 million, including a costly Suzuka crash on an in-lap. Haas replaced Schumacher with Nico Hülkenberg for 2023.

Sports cars and the move to IndyCar

After two years as Mercedes’ reserve driver, Schumacher joined Alpine’s World Endurance Championship hypercar team. At Fuji in 2024, he drove the final stint and brought the car home third, giving Alpine its first podium in the series. He reached the podium again at Imola the following year.

When Cadillac chose experienced drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez for its F1 project, Schumacher moved to IndyCar, signing with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) for a full season.

IndyCar, 2026

• St. Petersburg, March: Schumacher’s first race ended on lap one, after three corners. Contact ahead sent him onto Santino Ferrucci’s car and out of the race. He later revealed that a piece of his wrist had broken off in the crash. He continued racing and postponed surgery until the end of the year.
• Phoenix: In his first oval race, Schumacher qualified fourth, but a pit-stop problem contributed to an 18th-place finish. After four rounds, he was last in the standings.
• Indianapolis 500: He completed all 200 laps and was named Rookie of the Year.
• Detroit: After crashing in qualifying, Schumacher started at the back. A strategy call and a well-timed caution put him provisionally on course for a podium. With Alexander Rossi’s penalty still to come, Schumacher was effectively running second late in the race. He then got his braking wrong while fighting David Malukas and took both cars out. Radio trouble and pit errors compounded the result: Schumacher was classified 21st, nine laps down.
• Nashville Superspeedway, July: Schumacher finished eighth, his only top-10 result of the year. He was then 24th in the standings.
• Laguna Seca, final round: Schumacher needed eighth to take Rookie of the Year and its prize. Leader Dennis Hauger retired on lap one, opening the opportunity, but Schumacher finished 22nd. He ended the championship 23rd, without a podium.

The video argues that Schumacher’s overall IndyCar result obscures his performance on ovals, which he had never raced on before. Across those races, he finished ahead of both RLL teammates: four places ahead of Graham Rahal and seven ahead of Louis Foster.

RLL released Schumacher while selling one of its three entries, but Meyer Shank Racing announced him for 2027 two days before the Laguna Seca finale.

Closing assessment

The video offers a mixed assessment. Schumacher’s junior titles, Sunday head-to-head against Magnussen and strong first oval qualifying suggest ability; his F1 qualifying record, crash costs and Detroit mistake support the criticism. Its central question is whether he can build on his first IndyCar season with Meyer Shank Racing.

Presenter/source: IntoTheFormula People quoted or attributed in the video: Guenther Steiner, James Vowles and Mike Shank