Yahoo Autos Mick Schumacher Is More Than His Father's Legacy
Admittedly, it can be hard to get past Mick Schumacher's name.
This is the eighth installment of our driver-by-driver preview of the 2021 Formula 1 season. This weekend, we will be covering Haas F1. You can find the rest of our previews here.
Michael Schumacher, seven-time World Champion and the face of Formula 1's most recent V-12 era, casts a long shadow over his son's young career. There are just two seven-time champions, just two 68-time pole winners, and just two 91-time race winners in Formula 1 history. Schumacher shares each category with Lewis Hamilton.
Just like it did not make his brother any better or worse, none of this has any real bearing on the success or failure of his son. Mick Schumacher shares a name, and an uncanny resemblance, with his father, but his talent and career are his own. He enters Haas F1 as the reigning Formula 2 champion, and, more significantly, the most accomplished and most promising development driver in the Ferrari ladder today.
In a year or two, Mick Schumacher will likely be considered for a seat at Ferrari's senior team. When that time comes, Ferrari hopes their team will be again ready to compete for both driver and constructor championships. Until then, Mick Schumacher is here to prove that he can be the future of a Formula 1 generation led by Max Verstappen and George Russell, not Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
HOW HE GOT HERE
Mick Schumacher has been a serious Formula 1 prospect since at least 2016, but his career hit a stride in 2020. His first years in cars started in Formula 4, and runner-up finishes in both the German and Italian domestic Formula 4 championships propelled him to a Formula 3 Europe (not to be confused with FIA Formula 3, which replaced Formula 3 Europe but adopted its rules and structure from the series known as GP3) ride in 2017 and a series championship in 2018.
With Formula 3 and GP3 merging, Schumacher had to take a relatively large leap from Formula 3 Europe to Formula 2 in 2019 to avoid stagnation after a championship season. This was unsuccessful at first, with Schumacher putting in the sort of 1-win, 12th-place season common to rookies in a series that famously rewards experience.
Halfway through 2020, everything changed. Schumacher ran the race of his life at Monza, securing a win and moving into contention for a series championship. He won just one more time over the course of the season, totaling two wins in the 24-race season, but he stayed stable and consistent. Schumacher was crowned champion at Bahrain, beating out fellow Ferrari prospect Callum Ilott and earning himself the sort of career accolade that can overshadow even the last name "Schumacher."
