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Mick Schumacher says he is “overwhelmed” by being crowned the FIA Formula 2 champion after a dramatic season finale in Bahrain.
Schumacher, son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael, claimed the F2 title despite finishing 18th in the final race of the year after being forced to make an unscheduled pit stop due to his tires were punctured after multiple crashes.
The Ferrari protégé, who will graduate from F1 with Haas next season, beat his closest rival, Callum Ilott, in the championship by 14 points after the UNI-Virtuosi driver faded in the end with a severe degradation of the tires and placed third in a stage.
“To be honest, I’m a bit overwhelmed,” Schumacher said after the race.
“I don’t really understand or feel like a champion yet, I guess it might take a few days.
“It sounds good, but it would sound a lot better if I had a good race today.”
“However, we did enough to be champions. I owe it all to them, to the team, to a great group of people.
“Callum gave me a shot at my money and it’s been very difficult, but very enjoyable at the same time.”
Schumacher made a characteristic quick start to challenge for the lead at Turn 1, but suffered a heavy block under braking at Turn 4 when he narrowly avoided Dan Ticktum’s DAMS from behind.
More crashes followed for Schumacher as he desperately fought to keep Ilott behind him before finally pitting to change tires shortly after losing third place to the Briton.
I can’t say I didn’t give it my all, what a year it has been. So much speed, great memories and I couldn’t have done it without @VirtuosiRacing . Pushing this man @SchumacherMick all the way to the end. Very well done by him and @PREMA_Team pic.twitter.com/HKqCCZeyG0
– Callum Ilott (@callum_ilott) December 6, 2020
The German admitted it was far from his best moment of the season, but said he will eventually “forget” the result in the joy of being crowned champion.
“I knew the wind conditions were going to be tough,” explained Schumacher.
“It was very windy and we had a lot of tailwind at Turn 4. I braked too late, that’s the brutal truth. I was late to the brakes, which compromised the whole race.
“After that, I did my best to stay ahead of Callum, but he had a good pace. I felt my rear end coming off but I kept going, I kept going and then I thought ‘I can’t drive on this tire anymore’ and we had to do something.
“I was a little scared to go in, but the team said ‘let’s try, we can’t finish in this set anyway’ so we went into the pits and couldn’t get back to the front, but nevertheless now we are champions today and that’s what that people will remember.
“They will forget this race today and will only see the good times this year and I will too.”
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