Jos Verstappen tells the German ‘Sport1.de’ that he advised Corinna Schumacher to send her son Mick to Italy and to race with the Prema team in F4.
On his Formula 1 debut in 1994 at Benetton, Jos Verstappen raced alongside Michael Schumacher and the two became friends. Even after Verstappen hung his helmet on the willows in 2003, the two kept in touch.
After Mick Schumacher became German Formula 4 champion in 2015, Corinna Schumacher consulted Verstappen Senior to find out which direction her son should take. Verstappen, in her own words, advised her to send Mick to the Prema team in Italy to participate in the Italian F4 championship there.
“I had a conversation with Corinna after his first year in Formula 4 and she asked me which way he should go,” said Verstappen.
He told her that Mick would move to Italy to join Prema because it was the best team in F4 and F3 at the time. That did him no harm because Mick was successful in F4 and F3 and then promoted to F2 with Prema and became champion of the so-called waiting room for F1 in two years.
This year Schumacher is working for Haas in Formula 1 and although he is mainly condemned to fights in the rear, he is doing well according to Jos Verstappen. He also clearly has the upper hand over his teammate Nikita Mazepin.
“Mick is doing well, the car is difficult to drive. He will learn a lot this year, next year there will be new cars. We have to give him time.”
“I think Haas will be more supported by Ferrari next year. I already think there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes.”
“He is better than Mazepin. He spins less, he’s better at dealing with the press. Mazepin is more in the way in qualifying and in the race,” concludes Verstappen.
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