Mick Schumacher believes his natural shyness played a role in the negative reputation he gained during his time in Formula 1.
After spending two seasons as Mercedes' reserve driver following his departure from Haas, Schumacher has now put his F1 ambitions on hold to fully focus on his new role in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with Alpine.
However, he still feels he has unfinished business in Formula 1.
"When I look at the current grid, I have no doubt that I could keep up," Schumacher told Bild am Sonntag.
"It would be nice if I got another chance and could prove it. Because I think that a lot of people wrongly labelled me."
During his time at Haas, former team boss Gunther Steiner was particularly vocal about Schumacher's high-profile crashes, which contributed to the decision to drop him after the 2022 season.
"My reputation was more determined by negative public comments about me than by what I'm good at," Schumacher said. "I had the image of a crash driver."
He believes this perception wasn't just due to the incidents themselves but also how dramatic they appeared—such as his crash in Monaco, where his car split in half upon impact.
"That's true," Schumacher acknowledged. "But what is not taken into account is that our car was designed for this.
"The design meant that it would split in the event of a side impact. Other cars would have survived in one piece.
I didn't communicate that at the time because I didn't want to provoke more friction with the team. I was unsettled and didn't defend myself because I was shy.
"But ultimately, you need self-confidence and support to perform. I would defend myself more today," he added. "I have matured as a person and would no longer say 'everything is fine' so quickly, but I'd represent my point of view internally and externally more uncompromisingly.
"I had to go through this maturation process to become the person I am today."
Meanwhile, Mick's mother, Corinna Schumacher, has expressed outrage over what she considers a lenient punishment for one of the perpetrators involved in a blackmail plot against the family. The case involved secret attempts to obtain and distribute photos of Michael Schumacher's current health condition.
"We have appealed against what we consider to be a far too lenient sentence," she said in a statement, referring to the fact that "the mastermind behind this whole thing" escaped jail.
"What still shocks me most is the massive breach of trust. He should be punished for this to deter potential copycats."
