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More than just a famous surname – Mick Schumacher – The F1 Ladder

When you hear the Schumacher name you instantly think of Michael, but his son Mick has been making a name for himself on the F1 ladder as well.

His career in motor racing dates back to 2008 when he took part in the Kerpener Kartchallange – Bambini, in which he finished 11th on 223 points.  He also took part in the 2008 Open RAC, although there is no information available on this event.

An interesting fact about Mick Schumacher was that he used his mother’s maiden name, Betsch in his racing career when he started out, to try and limit the pressure of his name being so historic in motorsport. It is a little like the Dunlop name in motorcycling Weah or Hagi name in football.

The following year he had a second attempt at the Kerpener Kartchallange – Bambini, this time finishing in fourth place on 292 points. In 2010 he made progress yet again in this series, winning the Championship on 381 points for KSM Motorsport.

Schumacher also picked up a point in the Werner-Grossevollmer-Memory-Trophy, finishing the series in 33rd place. This particular series included the likes of current BMWi Andretti Formula E driver Maximilian Günther and BMW Junior Team driver in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie Max Hesse, who won the series. (Hesse is also the current teammate of Daniel Harper, who we interviewed over on our Youtube channel).

2011 was the year Schumacher competed in the ADAC Kart Masters – KF3, where he finished in ninth place on 59 points. He would also take on some different European competition in the DMV Kart Championship, where he would finish in 11th place on 86 points. Later in the year, Schumacher would finish 3rd in the Euro Wintercup – KF3 ahead of the likes of current F3 driver David Beckmann.

Beckmann would get the better of Schumacher in the 2012 Bridgestone Cup Europe – KF3, with Schumacher finishing down in 21st place. There were a number of other drivers that you might recognise taking part; current Campos F3 driver Sophia Flörsch, Current Trident F3 driver Lirim Zendeli and of course the winner, current Trident F3 driver David Beckmann.

The rest of 2012 would be a busy year for the son of the seven-time F1 World Champion starting off with a seventh-place finish in the ADAC Kart Masters – KF3, before a third-place finish in the DMV Kart Championship. He followed up these results with another third-place finish in the Euro Wintercup – KF3.

2013 would see Schumacher face future F1 drivers for the first time in Lando Norris in the 42° Trofeo delle Industrie – KF3. He finished in seventh place, with Norris fourth, but both behind current Hitech F3 driver Max Fewtrell.

A third-place finish in the German Junior Kart Championship would be followed by a 16th place finish in the WSK Super Master Series – KFJ. This series has so many names you will be familiar with; Lando Norris, Nikita Mazepin, Dan Ticktum, Max Fewtrell, Robert Schwartzman, Niko Kari, Enaam Ahmed, Jehan Daruvula. Logan Sargeant, David Beckmann, Sérgio Sette Câmara and Marino Sato. It was a very talented field, and that’s only a handful of the drivers that took part.

He would go up against a number of these drivers again in the South Garda Winter Cup, finishing in 17th place. He would then go on to finish third in the CIK-FIA International Super Cup – KFJ, rounding out the year with a 19th place finish in the WSK Euro Series – KFJ and a 27th place finish in the CIK-FIA European KF-Junior Championship.

2014 would be Schumacher’s final year in karting, and he was truly impressive. He finished in second in the CIK-FIA World KF-Junior Championship behind Ahmed, second in the Deutsche Junior Kart Meisterschaft behind Beckmann, before a tenth place finish in the WSK Super Master Series.

The karting chapter of his career would end with a second-place finish in the CIK-FIA European KF-Junior Championship and a fourth-place finish in the WSK Champions Cup – KFJ, with Schumacher making the step up to single-seaters for 2015.

Schumacher made the step-up to single-seaters by taking part in the ADAC Formel 4, finishing in tenth place, picking up a win and a third-place finish around Oschersleben. The following year he would continue his development to finish second in the Championship to future Porsche Supercup driver Joey Mawson.

That second-place finish would be with the Prema team, which he stayed with for the 2016 Italian Formula 4 Championship, finishing second behind Marcos Siebert. 2016 would be a year that Schumacher would cross paths with some now-familiar names in the F1 feeder series paddock. They included the likes of Jüri Vips, Juan Manuel Correa, Lirim Zendeli, Felipe Drugovich, Richard Verschoor and Sophia Flörsch and Sebastian Fernandez.

He would also take part in four races of the MRF Challenge – Formula 2000 that ran between 2015 and 2016, ending the Championship in 10th place despite only taking part in a quarter of the races. This included two podiums at Irungattukottai.

Schumacher would also take part in the MRF Challenge – Formula 2000, where he would finish in third place behind Harrison Newey (Son of Red Bull Chief Technical Officer and one of the best designers in Formula One history) and Joey Mawson.

He then made the step up to the FIA Formula Three European Championship where he would finish in 12th place behind the likes of winner Lando Norris, Maximilian Günther, Callum Ilott, Jake Hughes, Jehan Daruvala, Guan Yu Zhou, Nikita Mazepin and Harrison Newey.

2017 would also see Schumacher take part in the Macau Grand Prix, finishing in 16th and last place, with Dan Ticktum, Lando Norris and Ralf Aron on the podium.

The 2018 FIA Formula 3 European Championship would be the series in which Schumacher would really start making a name for himself. He struggled in the opening half of the season, with Dan Ticktum taking control of the Championship. The second half of the season was nothing but spectacular for the young German who won eight of the final 15 races, picking up four other podium spots to win the Championship ahead of Ticktum and Robert Schwartzman. He followed this fantastic season up with a fifth-place finish at the Macau Grand Prix, won by Dan Ticktum.

2019 saw Schumacher take part in the Race of Champions representing Germany alongside Ferrari F1 driver Sebastian Vettel. This would be a rather emotional pairing given Mick’s father Michael raced in this event alongside Vettel for many years. Nico Hülkenberg and Pascal Wehrlein would also represent Germany during their time in Formula One.

Schumacher created shockwaves in the motorsport World when he beat Vettel in the head to head competition, with a Schumacher beating Vettel at the Race of Champions once again before the German duo finished as runners-up behind Johan Kristoffersson and Tom Kristensen of Team Nordic.

The young German would drive for Prema in the Formula Two Championship in 2019 and was under huge pressure to impressive with an F1 seat within reaching distance for him. He season didn’t go the best for Schumacher, finishing in 12th place, but this did include a win in the Hungarian Sprint Race.

2019 would also be the year that Schumacher got a taste of Formula One with an official test drive with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. On the Tuesday of the test in April, he followed in his father’s footsteps by driving the red car around Bahrain, before taking to the wheel of the Alfa Romeo car the following day.

For 2020, Schumacher would remain with the Prema team, alongside F3 Champion Robert Schwartzman. This would create one of the most exciting pairings in the series, with the winner of the team battle likely to get an F1 seat next season.

The season is still ongoing but from the opening few rounds it is Schwartzman who has the upper hand, but Schumacher has always been in the mix at the front and if it wasn’t for fire extinguishers going off and a few easy mistakes, it could be the German out front. We will just have to see what the rest of the season brings.

 

Does Schumacher have a future in F1?

Yes, I believe he does. His name brings not only a great marketing opportunity but also prestige and drivers around him will want to support him as they looked up to his father when they were younger. I think over the course of the season he will get the better of Schwartzman, the extra year experience in F2 may just prove vital. This could mean he will get an F1 seat at Alfa Romeo and this is really his only opportunity, and if he doesn’t beat Schwartzman, it might be a little too late for Schumacher, despite still being young.

 

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