Mick Schumacher recalls father’s advice that urged him to…
Michael Schumacher had four words of advice for son Mick before the youngster embarked on his own Formula One career: ‘Do what you love’.
Mick followed in the footsteps of his legendary father, who won a joint-record seven F1 championships during his racing career, by joining American team Haas last year.
Following a nightmare debut campaign, in which he failed to earn a single point for his team, the 23-year-old has shown signs of clear improvement this season, scoring for the first time with an eighth-place finish at Silverstone and also coming sixth in the Austrian GP.
Being the son of a driver many consider to be the greatest of all time, Schumacher has ventured into the sport with more pressure on his shoulders than most, meaning comparisons with his dad were always inevitable.
But the F1 icon himself, who has not been seen publicly since being placed into a medically-induced coma after a skiing accident in 2013, never tried to deter Mick from following his passion.
Mick Schumacher recalls father’s advice that urged him to…
‘My father was always very supportive of everything I was doing in karting,’ the Haas star said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo.
‘Of course. I think he tried to give me different approaches to see what was best for me, and in the end he always told me: “do what you love”.’
And for me, what I have loved the most has always been racing. I have always loved what I have done and every time I went to major events, bigger races, it was very nice that he occupied his time with me in the motorhome, discussing racing. They were good times.’
Schumacher currently finds himself 15th in the F1 driver standings this season, 10 points behind Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen in 11th.
He has acquired 12 points so far, recovering from a disastrous qualifying event in Saudi Arabia early on – in which he suffered a horror high-speed crash – to put his first set of points on the table.
When asked if it is difficult to cope with the pressure of living up to dad Michael, Schumacher said: ‘No. It’s not difficult (laugh). It’s something that motivates me.
‘It is very nice to have a pressure that nobody else has and I have always carried it. I love being compared to my father, in this case, the best driver in the world.’
Michael claimed his first F1 title two months prior to his 26th birthday, although the Ferrari icon had followed up a 14th-place finish in his debut campaign with improved third and fourth-place showings before getting his hands on a championship.
Despite his slower start, Mick insists he too has aspirations of going on to become world champion, which he has already achieved in the lower ranks.
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What happens in the future I cannot predict. But I try to build everything to one day become world champion,’ he said.
‘I did it in Formula 3 and Formula 2, also in karting and in Formula 4 (he was second in German F4 in 2016). I feel like I have every chance to achieve that goal and I think I just need to be in the right car at the right time.