Which Formula 1 driver has the best run of results against his team mate in qualifying 13 rounds into the season? Kevin Magnussen.
Over the eight-race stretch which began at the Spanish Grand Prix, Magnussen hasn’t been out-qualified by his team mate once. For Mick Schumacher, this is a sharp reversal of the situation he enjoyed last year, where he invariably had the beating of Nikita Mazepin.
Clearly Schumacher was being flattered by his fellow rookie team mate last year. It’s to be expected that the considerably more experienced Magnussen would hold the upper hand over Schumacher, who is still tackling some F1 tracks for the first time.
Schumacher made a faltering start to his season, set back by heavy crashes in Jeddah and Monaco. He’s responded well since then, and should have bagged the first points of his career in Canada where he was running seventh in the early stages before suffering a power unit failure. His luck finally changed over the next two races, where he joined Magnussen in delivering double points finishes for Haas.
On race day, Schumacher has often been closer to Magnussen’s pace. This doesn’t tell the full story of why his 11-2 qualifying deficit flips to a 7-2 superiority in finishing positions when both drivers reach the chequered flag. Magnussen’s had some breaks go against him, not least a pair of black-and-orange flags which spoiled his Sundays in Canada and Hungary.
However, Schumacher has given a good account of himself in other races. He had strong pace in Austria and made sure the team knew about it, repeatedly urging them to invoke tactics from the pit wall during the sprint race.
Magnussen shored up useful points finishes early in the year, which gives him the upper hand on points. As a result in the last race, at the Hungaroring, Magnussen was the only one of the two drivers to run Haas’s extensively updated VF-22.
The team were already in competitive shape before then, and if the update successfully addresses some of the car’s weaknesses more points should follow in the second half of the season. If Schumacher can continue his upward trend on Sunday, and shore up his Saturday deficit, he has every opportunity to close the deficit and even overturn it in the second half of 2022.
Schumacher vs Magnussen season summary
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Schumacher vs Magnussen race-by-race
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Schumacher vs Magnussen qualifying performance
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