Schumacher: Vettel giving me lots of advice in good friendship

Schumacher made his F1 debut in 2021 with Haas after winning the Formula 2 title last year, joining Vettel as the only other German driver on the grid.

Vettel has taken a keen interest in Schumacher’s career, having raced against his seven-time world champion father, Michael, between 2010 and 2012, and looked up to him during his own early career.

Vettel and Schumacher Jr have been spotted talking a lot throughout the season so far, often interacting in the media pen and during the driver parade that returned in Monaco last weekend.

Schumacher revealed that Vettel has given him “many” pieces of advice in the early part of his F1 career, and felt there was plenty he could learn from the Aston Martin driver.

“I have a huge respect for him, and obviously, I think that we can call that a friendship, which is very nice for me,” Schumacher said.

“He has got so much experience and there are so many things that I can learn from him.

“I think the biggest advice he gave me is really to just never forget why I'm here. And that's because we love the sport. Once you lose that, you’re in the wrong place.

“So I'm enjoying my life. I'm doing the best thing in the world. I think that it's great to have somebody like him giving me advice here and there.”

Schumacher has led Haas’s efforts through the early part of the 2021 season, qualifying and finishing ahead of teammate Nikita Mazepin in four of the five races.

The German driver explained how his confidence is being built up through a close relationship with the Haas team, with trust flowing in both directions.

“The team is a big, big part of my development, but it's also a big part of my confidence,” Schumacher said.

“I take that confidence from the team that they're giving me. They have a huge trust in us as drivers. I have a huge trust in my team.

“That bond is building on a very steep level at the moment, and that is going to make those time differences at the end, where you will always find that extra bit of lap time, because you have such a strong connection to the team.

“Even when we don't see each other, we're still building on it, because we have meetings behind the scenes that people will probably never see, but they're there and the work is daily.

“That’s basically what we need to improve and that's where we will get our strength from, also in the future.”