Schumacher’s Guest Column: Driving the Ferrari F2004 was a very special moment

Mick Schumacher took the FIA Formula 2 Championship lead in Round 9 at Mugello. The PREMA racer takes control of this week’s guest column to pen his thoughts on a successful weekend.

He delves into the lessons he learned at Mugello, the experience of driving the Ferrari F2004 around the track on Sunday, and looks ahead to Round 10, at Sochi.

One good point – A drive to remember

Obviously driving the Ferrari F2004 on Sunday was a very special moment for me. It’s such a great car and in my opinion one of the best ones in the history of F1. And driving it on a track like Mugello where the F2004 had done so many laps before made it even more special for me.

One bad point – A tricky Qualifying session

Obviously, my qualifying wasn’t the best with P15. I pushed a bit too hard and ran wide in Turn 11 which caused some damage on the car. Fortunately, it didn’t have too much of a negative impact on my race.

What I learned – Tyre management

There were some important lessons for the entire team, as it was a completely new track for the F2 cars. For me it was interesting to see how the tyre degraded on a circuit with so many fast corners. It was a real challenge to keep the tyres alive, but I hope that the data we collected might also help us at the remaining circuits, especially the outer Bahrain track.

Driving the F2004 around Mugello

Simply amazing. The sound, the downforce, the steering – it’s just amazing. It was really special for everyone involved, I think also for the mechanics who have worked with my dad on this car 16 years ago. A great moment for me and I’m very thankful that I got this opportunity by Ferrari.

Next time out - Sochi

Sochi will be a different track compared to Mugello. We except much less tyre degradation and therefore more push laps in the race, which is always good for the action. I’m sure it will be an interesting weekend to watch.