Schumacher: Great to be back in a F1 car

Coming-in to the weekend after an eventful fortnight that has seen him both announced as a Haas driver for next season and crowned the 2020 Formula 2 champion, Schumacher finally got his first run in a F1 practice session after missing-out on a run with Alfa Romeo at the Eifel Grand Prix due to inclement weather.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, the German said he was overall pleased with his efforts.

"Everything went well," he said. "I’m happy with how our session went, no major issues on either side, so I’m really, really happy.

"It was a hell of a ride, it was really fun, and great to be back in a Formula 1 car."

Recording 23 laps in the VF-20 with his best time of 1:41.235, Schumacher was only 18th fastest (albeit 2.834 seconds quicker than Pietro Fittipaldi in the sister car), but stressed that the emphasis for him was not on lap times, but getting acclimated to his new team and car.

"Obviously any running is good running and great preparation for me for next year," he said. "Today, FP1 was great to get that first taste, and then the young driver test is really going to be for me to work on certain things, such as long runs, which are obviously going to be very important. Hopefully on some starts. And just really get used to the team even more, as I do know them already, and get more familiarised with the car."

Just as importantly, Schumacher acknowledges he will need to make adjustments mentally - not just in terms of stepping-up from F2 to F1, but learning to live with life at the back of the grid.

"I would say next year is really going to be to manage our expectations and really be open-minded on every aspect with everything happening next year.," he explained. "For me it’s really just, if you know and say OK, Q2 is our goal, which is maybe hard to reach, but if we reach it, then it’s like a win for us. So I’ll take it as that to not only observe ourselves, but also to show to the others that we’ll always keep fighting and give our best."