The accident did not cause Schumacher and Vettel to argue

In Miami, neither Mick Schumacher nor Sebastian Vettel scored points, although both had the chance, but on lap 53 of the race they collided as they battled for 9th place.

It is clear that both were angry, but refrained from mutual recriminations, since they have long had friendly relations.

Mick had a good chance of earning the first points of his F1 career when he battled Esteban Ocon for 9th position but was 17th off the track in turn. Vettel took advantage of this and got ahead of both but then, at the start of the next lap, Schumacher tried to counterattack the Aston Martin driver along the internal stretch but it all ended with him snagging Sebastian’s car , which had already started entering the 1st corner at that time.

“Let’s just say I didn’t expect it,” Vettel later commented. – Of course it’s a shame that we collided and because of this we lost the chance to earn points, because both had a good chance. I’m upset, but I didn’t expect him to attack. I don’t know, we need to watch the recording of this moment. I thought I was ahead, but when I saw him it was of course already late, so there was contact between the cars.

Immediately after the finish, Mick, classified last, 15th, said he wanted to discuss what had happened to Sebastian: “Of course it is now difficult to say anything and assess the situation, because I have only seen it from the car . You have to see what it looked like from the outside. I’m sure it will be helpful for me to hear what Sebastian thinks. But you just have to leave this episode in the past and move on.

When Mick was told that Vettel was not angry with him, Schumacher reacted as follows: “I can say the same from my side. It’s good that I can learn from him, he’s my friend, I really appreciate it, so we’ll see. After all, we are all racers.”

The FIA ​​stewards, who analyzed the collision, regarded the riders’ guilt as mutual and did not fine anyone – also because both lost the chance to earn points anyway, which could already be considered a sufficient penalty.

But Mick’s uncle, a former Formula 1 driver and now Sky Deutschland TV pundit Ralf Schumacher, gave a slightly different assessment of this episode: “Sebastian should have left more space. I think he has more to blame. Mick couldn’t disappear into thin air.”

However, other pundits noted that Mick generally had a good time at the Miami Grand Prix as he did everything right before this unfortunate incident. So thinks, for example, Martin Brundle, the British Sky Sports F1 commentator, who was once, 30 years ago, Michael Schumacher’s partner at Benetton.

“He almost reminded me of his father,” Brundle said of overtaking Schumacher at the start of the race against AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. “It is one of his best races to date. He drove well all weekend and kept up with his teammate, although Kevin Magnussen is now on top form.”