Mick Schumacher
Mick Schumacher (; born 22 March 1999) is a German racing driver. He races for Haas in Formula One under the German flag. He is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and a reserve driver for Scuderia Ferrari. He began his career in karting in 2008, progressing to the German ADAC Formula 4 by 2015. After winning the 2018 FIA F3 European Championship, Schumacher progressed to Formula 2 in , and won the 2020 Formula 2 Championship. He is the son of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, nephew of Ralf Schumacher and cousin of David Schumacher . Personal life. Schumacher was born in Vufflens-le-Château, and grew up in Gland. He is the son of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher and Western riding European Champion Corinna Schumacher. His uncle Ralf Schumacher is a retired racing driver. His cousin David Schumacher is a racing driver as well. Schumacher is the step-nephew of Sebastian Stahl and grandson of Elisabeth and Rolf Schumacher. Schumacher was skiing with his father when Michael suffered life-threatening brain injuries on 29 December 2013. In March 2017, Mick first talked publicly about his father, describing him as "my idol  and my role model". Before the start of the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix, he drove his father's championship-winning Benetton B194. He drove another of his father's championship winning cars, the Ferrari F2004, in a demonstration before the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello, to mark Scuderia Ferrari's 1000th Formula One race, wearing his father's helmet for the occasion. Schumacher credits chess as being an integral part of his mental preparation before an F1 race. He stated: “I feel like these games kind of bring focus back, as you always have to be switched on with  your mind. In a weekend, I always want to be mentally ready for every challenge that comes.” Career. Schumacher started his motorsport career in 2008. To avoid attention because of his famous father, he started his career under the pseudonym 'Mick Betsch', using his mother's maiden name. Karting. In 2011 and 2012, Schumacher drove in the KF3 class of the ADAC Kart Masters, ending in 9th and 7th respectively. In the Euro Wintercup of the KF3 class, he was 3rd in 2011 and 2012 and in 2012 was 3rd in the KF3 Rating DMV Kart Championship. In 2013 he  finished 3rd in the German Junior Kart Championship and the CIK-FIA Super Cup KF juniors. In 2014, Schumacher used the name 'Mick Junior', and started in International and National Junior Championships, ending the season 2nd in the German Junior Kart Championship as well as in the European and World Championships. Although he did not race in karting under his real surname, his successes in karting were picked up by the international press. Formula 4. At the end of 2014, he completed test drives for Jenzer Motorsport in a Formula 4 racing car. In 2015, Schumacher started racing in formula  classes for the first time, racing for Van Amersfoort Racing in the ADAC Formula 4, using the Schumacher name. In 2016, Schumacher remained in ADAC Formula 4 but switched to Prema Powerteam, a team known for its close links to the Ferrari Driver Academy. He also entered the Italian F4 Championship and finished runner-up in both championships to Joey Mawson and Marcos Siebert respectively. Formula Three. In November 2016, Schumacher made his first appearance in Formula 3 machinery by taking part in the MRF Challenge, a championship based in India. He competed in the upper Formula 2000 class and  finished the series in 3rd place, collecting four wins, nine podiums, and two pole positions. Schumacher finished behind Harrison Newey and Joey Mawson, but ahead of his future Formula 3 and Formula 2 competitors Jüri Vips and Felipe Drugovich. 2017. In April 2017, Schumacher made his debut in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema Powerteam. He finished the season in 12th place, his best finish being a 3rd place at Monza. Schumacher was the lowest finisher of the four Prema drivers, however, he was the third-best-placed rookie in the championship. 2018. Schumacher continued driving for Prema  in the 2018 championship. He suffered a slow start to the season, eventually taking his first win at the fifteenth race of the year at Spa-Francorchamps, almost halfway through the season. Before this race, he sat in 10th place in the championship, 67 points behind championship leader Dan Ticktum. However, Schumacher dominated the latter half of the season, taking seven more wins, including five consecutively. He ended the season as champion, 57 points clear of 2nd-placed Ticktum, taking eight wins, fourteen total podium finishes, seven pole positions, and four fastest laps. FIA Formula 2. 2019. Schumacher moved up  to the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2019 with Prema Racing, alongside Sean Gelael. At the first round of the season in Bahrain, Schumacher started 10th and finished 8th after passing Nobuharu Matsushita on the final lap, giving him reverse-grid pole position for the sprint race, in which he finished 6th. Schumacher started from 7th in the feature race at Baku but was forced into retirement after a spin. He recovered from 19th to finish 5th in the sprint race. He failed to score points at Barcelona, suffering a collision in the first race and a time penalty for  an illegal overtake on Jack Aitken in the second. At Monaco, Schumacher collided with multiple cars in the feature race, bringing out the red flag. He would fail to score points in either race. A double retirement came at the Circuit Paul Ricard, after he was involved in a collision with teammate Gelael in the first race and suffered a puncture in the second. Schumacher stalled on the grid at the Red Bull Ring and finished in 18th place before a charge through the field in the sprint race saw him finish 4th. Another sprint race points-finish came at  Silverstone with 6th place. He finished 8th at the feature race in Hungary, taking reverse-grid pole for the sprint race and holding the position to take his first win in Formula 2. Schumacher qualified 6th at Spa-Francorchamps, but both races were cancelled due to an accident that caused the death of Anthoine Hubert. At Monza, he retired from the feature race from a power issue but recovered to finish 6th in the sprint race, also achieving the fastest lap. He retired from both races in Russia, after an engine issue in the first and a collision with Giuliano  Alesi in the second. Schumacher finished the season with 9th and 11th-place finishes in Abu Dhabi. He ended the season in 12th place in the championship with 53 points, considerably ahead of teammate Gelael, and took one win and one fastest lap. 2020. Schumacher continued with Prema in the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, joined by reigning FIA Formula 3 champion and fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Robert Shwartzman. In the feature race at Austria, he went off while battling Callum Ilott for the race lead. In the second round at the same circuit, his fire extinguisher went off  in the sprint race. In Hungary, Schumacher bounced back with a double podium. He then went on a run of 5 consecutive podiums from Spain to Monza, including a win in the Feature race at Monza, and took the Championship lead at Mugello. He won the feature race at the next round in Russia and came third in the sprint race which was shortened due to a crash between Luca Ghiotto and Jack Aitken. At the Bahrain Round, he qualified in 10th and rose to fourth in the Feature race. He finished seventh in the Sprint race. As a result , Callum Ilott was able to bring the deficit down to 14 points going into the final round on the Outer Track at the same venue. In Sakhir, Schumacher qualified a career-worst 18th following an incident with Roy Nissany. He produced a good recovery drive up to sixth with the fastest lap. This meant that the points gap stayed the same going into the final race. In the Sprint race, Schumacher flat-spotted his tyres while fighting for the lead, which led to him defending from Ilott for the first half of the race. After a few more lock-ups , he pitted for softs, dropping him out of the points. As a result of hard attacking and defending, Ilott's tires didn't fare much better and he too slowly fell out of the points. This result confirmed Schumacher as the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Champion. Formula One. Schumacher was announced as a driver for the Ferrari Driver Academy on 19 January 2019. Schumacher followed in his father's footsteps and cited Ferrari's big part of his heart and the special ties with the team within his family from childhood as a significant part of joining the team's  academy. On 2 April 2019, Mick Schumacher made his debut behind the wheel of a modern Formula One car, piloting Scuderia Ferrari's SF90 during the first day of in-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit as the only debutant in the field. During the morning session of testing, Schumacher recorded a personal best time of 1:32.552 from 30 laps, placing him sixth-fastest amongst other drivers after the rain stopped the session twice. Throughout the remainder of the day, Schumacher put in another 26 laps to set a final time of 1:29.976 on the softest available tyre compound, of  which remained to be the fastest time until Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen set a lap of 1:29.379 five minutes later. After Tuesday's test session, Schumacher said that he felt at home with Scuderia Ferrari and relished his first drive. “I really enjoyed today," he said. "It felt like home in the garage from the very first moment with a lot of people that have known me since I was very young. The SF90 is incredible because of the power it has but it is also smooth to drive and that's why I enjoyed myself so much ." Schumacher added he was impressed by the braking power of a modern F1 car. "It seemed to me you could brake later and later and the car would have made the turn anyway. I would like to say thank you Ferrari for this incredible opportunity." Schumacher was to continue in-season testing for Alfa Romeo Racing the following day. Schumacher was due to make his Formula One practice debut at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix in the first practice session, driving for Alfa Romeo Racing in place of Antonio Giovinazzi. Due to bad weather conditions, the session was cancelled, so  he performed no running. Schumacher made his Formula One practice debut at the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the first practice session, driving for Haas in place of Kevin Magnussen. He later made an appearance for Haas in the 2020 Young Driver Test. Ahead of the 2021 season, Schumacher requested to use the ‘MSC’ abbreviation for his name, shown on TV coverage. MSC was the abbreviation used by his father Michael, to distinguish between Michael and his brother Ralf, whose time in Formula One coincided. Schumacher had previously raced under the ‘SCH’ abbreviation in Formula 2. Schumacher drove for  the Haas team in after signing a multi-year contract, alongside Nikita Mazepin, with whom he raced in go-karts. He chose to race with the number 47 (fielded once in the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix by Stoffel Vandoorne in a substitute drive) as his two favourite numbers, 4 and 7, were already in use (by Lando Norris and Kimi Raikkonen respectively). After the Formula One season finale in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said that he expected Schumacher to have a "very difficult" first season, but added that he believed he could drive for Ferrari as early  as the 2023 season. Haas (2021–). Schumacher qualified nineteenth for his debut race, the , ahead of teammate Mazepin. Schumacher spun on the first lap but was able to continue, eventually finishing last of the remaining drivers in 16th place. At the next race, the , he crashed in front of the pit lane exit during a safety car period, breaking off his front wing. The pit lane was subsequently closed to allow the clearing of debris, preventing him from entering the pits for repairs for two laps. He again finished the race 16th. Schumacher crashed heavily in practice for the and  the team was unable to repair his car in time for qualifying. He performed one of the only on-track overtakes of the Grand Prix, passing Mazepin at the Grand Hotel Hairpin on the opening lap. At the , he overtook Mazepin shortly before the finish line, finishing ahead by only 0.074 seconds to claim 13th place. Schumacher caused qualifying at the to be red-flagged after crashing, although this secured him fifteenth place on the grid and marked his first appearance in the second segment of qualifying (Q2). He finished the race 19th. He crashed in the final practice session  for the and was forced to miss qualifying as his car was not repaired in time. He finished thirteenth in the race after avoiding the collisions on the opening lap, and was later promoted to twelfth after Sebastian Vettel's disqualification. This was his highest race position of the season, and he went on to say he was proud of his performance after having on-track battles with Max Verstappen. His first retirement came on lap 33 of the with an oil leak. At the , Schumacher reached Q2 and qualified fourteenth, the highest qualifying position of his Formula One career  at this point. He and Fernando Alonso collided on the opening lap, causing Schumacher to spin. He went on to finish nineteenth. Alonso later apologised for his role in the incident. He started the fourteenth on the grid but was eliminated at the first corner after a collision with Esteban Ocon. At the , his race ended on lap eight after crashing into a barrier, causing the race to be red-flagged. Schumacher ended his debut season 19th in the drivers' championship, ahead of teammate Mazepin but with no points scored. Schumacher remains with Haas for the season, partnering Kevin Magnussen , and serves as a reserve driver for Ferrari alongside Antonio Giovinazzi. Schumacher qualified twelfth and finished eleventh at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, moving up three positions due to the retirements of both Red Bull cars and Pierre Gasly. This makes it his highest qualifying and race finishing position so far in his Formula One career. Schumacher missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after a high-impact crash in qualifying; he was not replaced for the event. He was transferred to King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital in Jeddah for precautionary checks and was released with no injuries. Schumacher made  his racing return for the Australian Grand Prix, starting 15th and finishing 13th. Racing record. Racing career summary. <nowiki>*</nowiki> Season still in progress. Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results. Half points were awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results. Half points were awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. Complete Formula One results. <nowiki>*</nowiki> Season still in progress.