Sebastian Vettel has asked critics of Mick Schumacher to "leave him alone" after another difficult weekend for the young German racer.
His difficult start to the season continued in Monaco, where he suffered another major crash which ended his hopes of finally breaking his scoring duck in Formula 1. Schumacher clipped a barrier heading into the Swimming Pool area of the street circuit and split his Haas car in half, such was the force of the impact.
Fortunately he escaped serious injury, but his confidence may well have taken another knock as a result of a second hefty smash in the opening seven races of the year. The first came at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, when he hit a wall at high speed during qualifying and did not take part in the race as a precaution.
His second season in the sport promised so much after the first race. While Schumacher crossed the line 11th in Bahrain, just missing out on a maiden point, it was his highest finish in F1 and he was expected to soon better it again with the Haas cars looking more competitive this year than in previous seasons.
But things have not gone his way so far, finishing outside the points in four straight races after Jeddah and now this latest setback.
With that in mind and the pressure mounting on the highly-rated son of a seven-time world champion, fellow German and good friend Vettel has called for people to give him a break.
"It's so easy to get it wrong so quickly," he said in reference to the 23-year-old. "I don't know exactly what happened to him [in the Monaco crash]. I haven't seen it, but the main thing is he's okay. I have no doubt that he can do more than he's showing right now but I think you have to leave him alone for a bit."
Understandably, young Schumacher cut a frustrated figure as he faced the cameras following the smash on Sunday. "I'm feeling alright," he assured reporters after being checked over by medics. "Obviously it's very annoying. I think in terms of pace we were definitely there. It's just a matter of keeping it on track and unfortunately I wasn't able to do that.
"The pace felt strong and it felt like we were able to attack and push. We just ended up being a little too wide, which is maybe a matter of 10 centimetres at the end, and that was enough to lose all grip you thought you had. And unfortunately the result is as it happened."
