F3 Mick Schumacher to Race in Euro F3 with Prema Best team, and the most competitive F3. Will be fun to watch. With the way the youngsters are getting into F1 these days, he is likely only 1-2 years out I would guess @ 17 years old.
I hope he proves a great talent and we can see him in F1 when he's ready. He's done well in F4 so far, 2 seasons and came 2nd this year against a very talented Australian. We have to keep in mind due to Michaels injuries Mick obviously didn't go karting the very next weekend. Hopefully GP3/FR2.0 and GP2/FR3.5 beyond that. No need to rush him in. Top 3 in any championship should be the goal.
I hope if he has a tenth of his dads skill and class, he will go far. Good luck Mick, make your dad proud. I suspect his toughest task is having people compare him to his peers, rather than his father
Good point on not rushing. Hopefully he gets good guidance. The fact that they didn't rush him through F4 is a good sign.
Indeed. He raced under an aliases for much of karting for this reason. Obviously can be a big distraction. He's a good looking kid that smiles a lot, which is great to see. A lot of these kids are miserable despite their success. Gotta enjoy the ride!
In fact he did go karting at an young age but the mainstream media didn't take notice. He was part of Tony Kart, the best and biggest kart team in the world. He raced under his mother's last name or simply as "Mick Junior". There was also an agreement between WSK (the karting championships organizer) and the karting journalists to not mention he was Schumacher's son, including not publishing any photos of him. There are very few photos of him on podiums and on the track, but none mentions "Schumacher". Of course everybody on the paddock knew it but all respected this agreement, including other drivers and mechanics, and luckily none paparazzi attempted to pester him. In his karting years he was a good driver but a step below the best drivers in terms of talent.
Thats great news. I just hope as someone mentioned, he gets the right coach and mentor to guide him though the ranks...very very patiently. Jumping the gun, and screwing things up later in his career, would be very costly for such a competitive surname. People will end up crushing him with their comments. Having said so, i really wish him the best, and I know, and hope, Michael is really proud of him.
Im sure Michael will be proud of him, and I hope he proves as successful as his dad. If he is, you just know Michael will have an outlet, where he can live racing through his son, which may prove great therapy for him too
I'm hoping that maybe for him, with a dad that no one seriously believes anyone can top, that he has kind of a free pass on pressure if he thinks the right way. He just has to concentrate on being his own type of driver, and hopefully champion, because if he didnt copy his dads success, no one will ever think badly of his efforts, whereas with the kids of single champions, I suppose the monkey is on their back to match daddy, such as Damon hill, or Nico Rosberg.
I remain hopeful he doesn't get shoved into F1 too quickly. Going a similar route his father went would see him driving drive sports cars for Mercedes or Porsche perhaps after open wheel racing, which imo forces a driver to rely on aero too much. The mechanical aspect is learned more in cars with less aero and I believe makes for a more complete driver. Lastly, if I remember right Michael did not really trounce his teammates in sports cars, rather it was only when he got to F1 that he was seen as the incredible driver he was. Eddie Jordan very much had to be sold (and paid by Mercedes) on Michael getting in his car, with the rest of course being history. Point being, Michael was more well seasoned by his diverse experience upon his arrival in F1. Modern standards just pluck from gp2 etc, and while that seems to be working ok I can't help but think there is a quality missing many of these drivers.
I agree. It's odd to me that the FIA pushes F4 straight from karts. The F4 cars have massive mechanical grip for the power levels and decent aero too. Going with something like an FF or a sports car, before or in tandem, definitely teaches different skills. You also get much closer racing in FF than F4; also sports cars where you can rub. Most of the US drivers are still taking that intermediary steps either here or in the UK, but are usually targeting Indycar now and not F1 which seems out of reach. The best contemporary example is probably Josef Newgarden, who has now landed on the best team in Penske.
+1 Point well taken with Newgarden. There is no career path available to open wheel drivers beyond Indycar here in the USA. It is not possible to transition to F1 as Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve and JP Montoya did in the not too distant past because the quality of the opposition just isn't there. If you make it to Indycar that's it. The sad truth is that to race professionally in the USA you have either NASCAR or Indycar and NASCAR is probably the best option.
Although I would add that only about 1/3rd of the field in Indycar are pay drivers. 2/3rd's are paid to be there. But as you point out, you can definitely make more in NASCAR. I think Josef could have a shot at F1. If he wins a bunch of Indycar championships, he could make sense as a driver and commercially in F1 - especially with Liberty now pushing for more US venues. Also note that he has GP3 experience. Likewise with some other drivers like Rossi (GP3 and GP2), Daly (GP2 and GP3), etc. But I think you likely have to do at least GPx. On the other hand, we are headed to the second season of F4 in the US, and the SCCA/FIA keeps stating that we will have US F3 soon as well. So we shall see...
