With Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen having grabbed the headlines with a shock fifth place on his F1 return last weekend, Schumacher endured a more challenging season opener.
Following a first lap clash with Esteban Ocon that spun him around, Schumacher recovered to finish 11th – just one position out of the points.
But after a 2021 campaign where his best result was 12th at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Schumacher said feeling that he could have done better in Bahrain delivers the perfect proof of the promise he feels he has right now.
“I guess it shows that even though we had our best result, we’re still unhappy in a way, and that just proves the point that we have so much more potential,” he said ahead of the Saudi Grand Prix.
“It’s great to be disappointed and dreaming of something bigger, because that just motivates you even more to try and do your best every single time, and even go beyond that.”
After a 2021 campaign where he and then teammate Nikita Mazepin battled at the back of the field, Schumacher says that his whole approach to F1 has changed thanks to the improved competitiveness of Haas.
“You have to recenter or realign your expectations. Like last year, if the expectations were hopefully to be in P16, then this year it’s like OK, we can actually be in P5 if everything goes right.”
While Magnussen’s speed will increase the pressure on Schumacher to perform, the German thinks it is better for him to be alongside someone with such experience.
“He’s been in motorsport for a very long time, a lot more years than what I have, so obviously he does bring a lot to the team,” he said. “It’s great to have him on board and to be able to learn from him.”
Asked what he had already picked up from the Dane, Schumacher said: “Well, I think in general, obviously driving style is not the right approach to take in saying that I learned from that.
“But I think it’s just the whole general construct of how to build up a weekend, what he’s feeling, how he’s feeling with things and to compare with how I see it and how I feel it. That’s basically where we both progress from each other and learn from each other.
“At the end, we’re sharing every information, and it’s a very open discussion to how we approach some corners and how we feel some ways of how the car behaves. And just put those together and try to improve the car from there.”
