084 MICK SCHUMACHER
The Schumacher name returns to F1 this year, as young Mick makes his debut 30 years after Michael. We caught up with him about a future Ferrari drive... and being better than his dad
There’s a new kid on the F1 grid, and you might have heard of his famous dad. Can Schumi Jr live up to the expectation?
They are perhaps the biggest shoes of all to fill, but that’s just what 22-year-old Mick Schumacher has to do in living up to the legacy of his father, Formula One icon Michael
– a seven-time world champion, who remains one of the greatest grand prix drivers of all time.
And comparing the challenge with climbing Everest really isn’t enough, in the context of just how far his megastar father moved the game on. That breakout Jordan debut, his rise to two titles at Benetton, the Ferrari dream team years – all underpinned by a razor sharp focus on perfection.
Mick, though, is unfazed by the sheer cliff face ahead as he makes his F1 debut with US team Haas, and has already admitted he’d like to take back his father’s records from current megastar Lewis Hamilton – who is on a quest for an eighth title in 2021 that would make him the statistical GOAT.
“For a racing driver in general, we have to aim for the best,” says Schumacher in a one-on-one chat with TopGear. “Everybody in the Formula
One field, and also below it, they are all dreaming about becoming the most successful driver in the world. Some achieve it and some don’t. So, I will just keep working on myself, keep on driving and keep on having fun.”
Make no mistake, though, Mick is a chip off the old block, a humble hard worker who’s passionate about racing and has stepped up to F1 on the back of a successful junior career in which he won the two big championships (official feeder series Formula Two, and European F3), both of which were crucial for his ascent to F1.
“The moment I really started believing I will make it was probably around the time when I became Formula Three champion [in 2018],” he says. “That proved I actually know how to drive and what I have to do to win a championship. And then we managed to do it again in Formula Two and now we’re here.”
Mick Schumacher was born on 22 March 1999, two years after his sister Gina-Maria; the birth perfectly timed between that season’s Australian and Brazilian GPs. Despite his father’s global fame as he fought then reigning world champion Mika Häkkinen on-track, Schumacher was able to enjoy a normal childhood, which explains his down-to-earth nature.
“When we were at home, we had to do winter school. We weren’t always able to go to race weekends,” he says.
“Nonetheless, we would always watch the race on Sundays. So there was always a fan in me when it came to motorsport, and especially Formula One. I’ve always enjoyed watching it, and I still enjoy it now. I watched every race last year.”
That initial spark to compete, though, was more like two – not just in having an incredible father, but also the magic of the sport.
“The sport itself is so amazing to pursue, to race, and the feeling of winning is amazing,” he says. “I love the feeling, otherwise I wouldn’t be in the sport. I also love the fact we have to put so much effort and dedication into our sport to be good. Not everybody can do that. And that’s what really pushes me to be better than everybody else.”
Schumacher began karting at age nine, later than most in F1 (Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen started at just four and a half). But, he stayed off the radar with a series of fake names (Mick Betsch, taking his mother’s maiden name, and Mick Junior), allowing him the time to develop.
By the time Schumacher finished second in the 2014 European and World Karting Championships and made the switch to cars (starting with German F4), everyone was watching. The young gun rose to take runner-up in that series, and Italian F4, in 2016, before his switch to European F3.
For most, the pressure to compete and win under the Schumacher name would be crushing. Mick, though, takes it in his stride. “It wasn’t something that came from one day to the other. I could kind of grow into it,” he explains.
“It really gave me the opportunity to take my time, to develop the way I had to, and at the speed that I wanted to. Obviously we did everything right because we are in F1 now. The pressure doesn’t really bother me because most of the pressure comes from myself. And the pressure that people might think that I feel from outside is non-existent.”
US outfit Haas is a smart place for Schumacher to begin his F1 career, with the start-up outfit a no-nonsense operation complete with a team boss in Guenther Steiner who tells it like it is. Here he will be able to develop at the other end of the grid, where the only pressure is to beat his teammate.
The 21-year-old was told he would be driving for Haas in 2021 at last year’s Bahrain race, before he’d even secured the F2 title. “Obviously I was still in the mental position where I wanted to win the [F2] championship, so my focus was still on that. It didn’t sink in until Christmas. It was really a special moment when I realised that I am actually going to drive in Formula One, and it feels good to be here.”
It won’t be easy for Schumacher, with one and a half days of pre-season testing, no update parts expected on the car with the minnow squad focused on 2022, and a combative teammate in Russian Nikita Mazepin – whose reputation is in tatters after he filmed himself groping a woman’s chest in the back of a car, and posted it to social media. An act the team condemned as “abhorrent”.
Of course, everyone wants to see the Schumacher name return to Ferrari – including Mick, who is ready to follow his father’s footsteps. “My dream was always to race one day for Ferrari. I won’t argue about that. So let’s see what the future holds.”
Schumacher knows he needs strong results with Haas. And the young German understands what that involves. “Having a strong team around you, that’s everything in the end,” he says. “If you have a team around you that has the trust in you, and you have trust in the team – that’s when the performance really comes. That’s when you’re able to do things even on weekends where you don’t look the favourite, that you are still able to pull something out of the hat. And put something onto the tarmac.”