How ‘mentor’ Vettel is giving back to the Schumacher family

“I still am a Michael fan,” said Sebastian Vettel after it was announced at the end of last year that the seven-time world champion’s son, Mick Schumacher, was joining the Formula 1 grid. “I’m happy to help where I can, because he [Mick] is a great guy and obviously I have a very special connection to his father.

“I think it’s very important for him to find his own path. But surely, as much as it helped when Michael had some things to say when I asked, and gave me advice, I’m trying to do the same to him.

“It’s a shame Michael isn’t able to witness Mick’s progression in the past few years and his step now into F1. So, from my side, I really like him [Mick], we get along well and I’m happy to tell him everything I know.”

Vettel made his first F1 start the year after Schumacher Sr ‘retired’ in 2006. But then the seven-time champion returned in 2010 as Vettel was campaigning to win his first title. In fact, it was Schumacher’s clash with Vitantonio Liuzzi that triggered a series of fortuitous events which would allow Vettel to become the youngest F1 world champion in Abu Dhabi that night. And while this ‘assistance’ was clearly unintentional, as Vettel himself points out, the legendary German became a sort of a mentor for his country's new rising star, as well as one of his closest friends.

Inevitably, Mick got to know Vettel back then too.

Vettel has been a guiding hand for Schumacher in his rookie season

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

“My first memory of meeting him was [when] we, as a family, went to holiday,” Schumacher tells GP Racing. “He and his girlfriend came with us on the plane, because we went to the same destination. We played Angry Birds on his iPad. So yeah, that’s my first memory of him.

“I was probably 11. It was after a race, I don’t really remember which one. I was racing back then already. But basically, we didn’t really talk about racing at the time. I was obviously busy playing Angry Birds…”

It was only a few years later that they grew properly close. At the end of 2018, the year Schumacher won the European F3 championship after dominating the second half of the season, they met at the FIA Gala...

“I really enjoyed it,” Mick says of the evening characterised by what he describes as “Kimi’s amazing star appearance”. Yes, the one in which Kimi Raikkonen arrived on stage in an advanced state of inebriation.

"My impression is that Sebastian for him is like a mentor. Seb is like an older brother that in any moment, when he [Mick] has got something to ask, might just help, while remaining a competitor on track" Simone Resta

“Seb was making me drink vodka, I remember that,” Mick laughs. “I was sitting next to Kimi at times, too. Obviously it was a fun setting. But I think that the communication really started during the Race of Champions in Mexico.”

That was a month on from the awards ceremony in Russia, in January of 2019. Vettel and Schumacher hooked up as Team Germany on an improvised track inside the Foro Sol stadium. They made the Nations Cup’s final round but lost to Team Nordic’s Tom Kristensen and Johan Kristoffersson.

“I think the Race of Champions is a great place,” says Schumacher. “You know, it’s racing combined with a lot of fun. Usually it’s very tense if you’re racing against each other. Obviously, in our case now we’re in different stages [of our careers] at the moment, so even on race weekends we have barbecues together or, you know, we’ll go and eat. So yeah, definitely there’s time for that.

“But the Race of Champions was particularly for me the first time where I was with everybody, also the people who were in F1 at the time.”

Vettel and Schumacher teamed up at the 2019 Race of Champions

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Vettel, who famously won the Nations Cup six times paired up with Schumacher Sr, helped his new team-mate by sharing his knowledge of the RoC cars. Mick proved a fast learner, and while they didn’t pull off a Nations Cup win, Schumacher Jr did defeat Vettel next day in the individual competition.

“Obviously he was giving me some tips,” says Mick. “He’s got a lot of experience, so I was able to learn from him and with him to try and beat the rest and be the winners of the Nations Cup.

“And I think that was really the moment where I kind of felt like we were talking a lot more about racing stuff, but also about, you know, private [matters] and kind of sharing experiences, if that does make sense.”

When Schumacher moved to Formula 2, he was now racing on the same tracks during grand prix weekends, so they could meet more often. Vettel came to see his compatriot's first Ferrari F1 test in Bahrain. They’d encounter each other in Maranello as well, since Vettel was still Ferrari’s number one while Mick’s career development was being supported by the Ferrari Driver Academy.

“My impression is that Sebastian for him is like a mentor,” says Haas technical director Simone Resta, who during his time at Ferrari worked with both Schumacher Sr and Vettel. “Seb is like an older brother that in any moment, when he [Mick] has got something to ask, might just help, while remaining a competitor on track.

“I’m sure Sebastian, as a strong competitor, will never share particular points about performance, but I’m sure he might give guidance, you know, in terms of behaviour, how to follow the race weekend, preparing for the first season mentally, physically – about everything, even from the driver seat, ergonomics inside the car.”

Naturally, before Mick’s first F1 race, his mentor couldn’t resist giving him some tips.

“I think,” says Mick, “one of the biggest ones was ‘just finish the race’, because obviously if you don’t finish the race, you don’t learn anything. So he just said: ‘Be careful in the first few laps, and then you can attack’. So that’s kind of what I did. Well, I tried to, because I spun. But, I tried!”

Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher playing football

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Even if Mick isn’t an 11-year-old kart racer any more, there’s still a significant age difference between him and Vettel. The Aston Martin driver though, is 18 years younger than Michael, and that didn’t prevent them from being friends. And there’s a palpable connection between all three in terms of character, approach and mindset.

“Clearly F1 is an environment where precision in everything,” says Resta. “Attention to details is something I’m sure Mick has learned from his family – trying to improve on every little detail, trying to make sure that everything is perfect.

“Sebastian is similar. With age you gain experience, so you have clearer ideas about where to go, while when you’re younger you’re open-minded, because you need to make up and develop your own ideas, learn and practice and create your opinions.

"He’s a great person and I really enjoy being able to call him my friend – being able to have somebody on the grid to talk to, it’s always good" Mick Schumacher

“They’re clearly at a different maturity stage between the two of them. Mick is very positive, very open, eager to learn everything and to improve as much as he can as fast as he can, while Sebastian after so many years of successful career in F1 is starting to have his own ideas and opinions and convictions. And I think he can transfer that to his friend now.”

It’s not easy to track the junior Schumacher’s progress this year, given he’s got the slowest car on the grid and has very little chance to demonstrate his racecraft.

PLUS: Why F1’s worst car isn’t inhibiting ‘smart’ Schumacher

“I think in many ways, it would be easier if he had a great car under him, to show what he can do,” says Vettel of Schumacher. “So it’s a tough test, but I think from the outside he’s really doing well. He seems to be lifting the whole team. He’s very motivated.

“He’s showing one side of his strength on the track, but I think off-track is probably even more impressive. He’s putting a lot of work in, and he enjoys it. That’s the secret behind it.”

A capacity for hard work, along with being a keen team player, have long been regarded as Schumacher's strengths, and those who worked with his father at Ferrari fondly recall Michael’s industriousness and galvanising influence. And though Schumacher can’t yet fight for wins and podiums, his arrival is a great story for F1 – and a special one for people like Resta, who has been with Ferrari since joining from Minardi in 2001.

Vettel watches on as Schumacher tests his father's F2004 at the 2020 Tuscan GP

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“For sure, it was quite an emotional moment,” Simone says about when he learned he would be working with Michael’s son. “I attended Michael’s second [F1] race on the track in Monza, for example. And I remember I was there also for Michael’s last race at Imola with Ferrari.

“There are many things that we bring with ourselves, with our experience, with our journey. And the older we are the more emotional they get [for] us. But fundamentally… yeah, sure, it has been a very nice way to close that circle with Mick and Mick’s dad.

“I can only wish him to follow his dream, to develop himself as a driver. He’s doing very well. I am sure if he keeps going with this will and effort to improve, he can really grow and he can be successful.”

PLUS: How Mick Schumacher is making his own F1 name

It’s a shame indeed that Mick’s dad can’t accompany his son to races and offer his experience. Having a friend on the grid in Vettel can’t replace that but, as the younger Schumacher says, it definitely helps.

“Obviously on top of that it’s Sebastian, who has four world championship titles under his belt,” Mick says, “and being able to learn from him, it’s great. But also he’s a great person and I really enjoy being able to call him my friend – being able to have somebody on the grid to talk to, it’s always good.”

In his final Formula 1 race, Michael Schumacher let his friend Vettel through towards a sixth-place finish at Interlagos, which helped the Red Bull driver secure his third title. Schumacher was one of the first to congratulate him after the race. But in their three years of racing in F1 together they never shared the podium. What are the chances of Vettel sharing a podium with Michael’s son?

Seemingly energised by his move to Aston Martin, Vettel has already finished second on the road twice, and team owner Lawrence Stroll is determined to make his outfit a championship contender within the next few years. There’s every possibility of seeing Vettel on the podium again.

Schumacher congratulates Vettel on his podium in the Azerbaijan GP

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Vettel's friend and former colleague Resta, meanwhile, is hard at work designing a car which could allow Schumacher to really show what he’s capable of in F1 next year. Obviously, it’s a stretch to expect Haas to make a huge leap in competitiveness from the back of the grid but, if Schumacher's second season at the pinnacle of motorsport proves successful, he could put himself in contention for a Ferrari drive.

So, who knows? Perhaps we might see Vettel standing on an F1 podium with a Schumacher after all.

“That’d be amazing,” agrees Mick. “Yeah. Hopefully, he’ll be around for some time.”

Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-21, Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR21

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images