Haas driver Mick Schumacher has said that his performance in Montreal last weekend was testament to his belonging in Formula 1, but he would have liked the result to go with it.
In wet conditions in Canada, Schumacher qualified in sixth just behind team-mate Kevin Magnussen, and he was running in the top 10 when he suffered a reliability failure that put him out of the race.
Following the joint best-ever qualifying result for the American side, it was an immensely disappointing day as Kevin Magnussen went on to finish down in 17th after contact with Sir Lewis Hamilton on lap one.
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Schumacher has come in for criticism so far this year for big crashes in Jeddah and Monaco, as well as a failure to score points since his arrival in Formula 1 – a run that has now extended to 31 race entries.
However, his overall pace was there last weekend, so this is the main takeaway from the grand prix for him.
“Obviously it’s nice to have a good result but it’s also something to build on,” Schumacher said.
“And, you know, just prove to everybody yes, I am here for a reason.
“I was hoping for more, I think there was more in the car and myself, I just didn’t maximise the last set because of traffic and other moments.
“But in general, very, very happy about qualifying. But I think everybody’s also cautiously happy about it, just because we still have tomorrow to go for.
“But overall, I think we’ve done a good job today, which is good for the team, but also good for us.”
Having put together a fine team performance up until the incidents that cost them a chance of any points, the young German is pleased with Haas’ efforts.
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“We built the cake, we just didn’t get to put the frosting on it,” added Schumacher.
“It’s quite upsetting because I think we had a good car, great pace. I’m sure there would have been a good reward for our hard work this season, but we have to wait longer.
“We came from a few tough races now but it’s not the first race weekend that was good. I felt like this was especially good because the whole package was good.
“We had no issues on the car, we were able to feel comfortable in every situation, we knew we had a good pace as well.
“It’s obviously very frustrating but these things happen, it’s Formula 1, everything is quite on edge. We’ve got to swallow that pill, again we have loads of positives things we can take from here. Really excited about the next one.”
Haas travel to Silverstone next weekend for the British Grand Prix, around a 25-minute drive from their UK base in Banbury.