Being the racing son — or even grandson — of a famous racing driver is nothing new. Examples include Andretti, Unser, Earnhardt, Brabham, Hill (Phil and Graham), Villeneuve, Fittipaldi and Ascari.
It is a mixed blessing because the name opens doors on the way up the racing ladder, but eventually the youngsters have to prove themselves on the race track.
Mick Schumacher, who makes his Formula One racing debut with the U.S. Haas team this year, is going to come under intense scrutiny. His father, of course, is the legendary Michael Schumacher who held just about every F-1 record in the books until Lewis Hamilton began surpassing those records during the last couple of years.
So how does he handle the pressure of being the son of a legend and trying to achieve things in the same field?
“Well, obviously, the pressure is always there no matter what your name is,” Mick Schumacher said. “You want to show yourself; you want to do a good job and at the end, my name will bring me to the top championship. But it’s the achievement and the work with the team behind the scenes that is important. We did a very good job in F-2 and that proves that we’re in the right spot at the right time.”
Schumacher won the 2020 Formula 2 championship after fighting for the title with Callum Ilott right up to the final race.
PRIVACY
Unfortunately for Schumacher, now that he is in the F-1 limelight, he is going to have to really dodge questions about his father’s health. It was tragic irony that Michael Schumacher raced cars from 1988 through 2012 and he was only seriously injured once. He broke his leg when the rear brakes failed on his Ferrari and he crashed into the barriers at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix.
Then, after he had retired from racing, on Dec. 29, 2013, Michael Schumacher was skiing in the French Alps with Mick, then 14, when he fell and hit his head on a rock. He was wearing a helmet, which probably saved his life, but he suffered a traumatic brain injury.
Since then, the Schumacher family has kept Michael’s condition a closely guarded secret. He lives on the family compound in Switzerland and the very few visitors permitted are not allowed to reveal anything about him.
So, inevitably, some members of the media will question Mick about his father.
Members of the Schumacher family have always valued their privacy. If Michael and Corinna ever brought Mick and his sister, Gina-Maria, to F-1 races, they were kept out of sight.
When Mick, who was born on March 22, 1999, followed in his father’s footsteps and began racing karts in 2008, he used the name Mick Betsch — his mother’s maiden name — to avoid media attention.
GRADUATION
He graduated to car racing and Germany’s ADAC Formula 4 series in 2015. Then, in 2016, he finished second in that championship and the Italian Formula 4 championship, scoring five wins in each series. He graduated to the FIA European Formula 3 championship in 2017 and he clinched that championship the following year with seven victories.
Formula 2 was next, but Schumacher struggled in 2019, getting just one win and he ended up 12th in the points. Things improved in 2020. He only won twice, but nine podium finishes helped secure the championship.
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