Mick Schumacher, son of legend Michael Schumacher will have an official Formula One drive during a race weekend for the first time at the Nürburgring in his home country of Germany on October 9.
Schumacher gets the practice drive in an Alfa Romeo, as a member of Ferrari’s young driver program, replacing Antonio Giovinazzi’s car for FP1 session of the weekend.
Mick Schumacher improved his hopes of getting a chance to drive by winning the Sochi Formula 2 feature race on Saturday which extended his lead in the title race over Callum Ilott.
Schumacher’s father won F1 races at the Nurburgring in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006. The German legend won seven world titles with Benetton and Ferrari before retiring from the sport, for the second time, in 2012.
The 21-year-old German driver is leading F1’s feeder series, Formula 2, and has been linked with a seat with Alfa Romeo in 2021.
Test day with @ScuderiaFerrari and @insideFDA in preparation for my first Formula 1 FP1 next week. #essereFerrari @F1 pic.twitter.com/4I3vPWoQqk
— Mick Schumacher (@SchumacherMick) September 30, 2020
He won the European Formula 3 championship in 2018 and tested a Ferrari F1 car in Bahrain in April 2019.
“I am overjoyed to get this chance in free practice,” Schumacher said.
“I’m going to prepare myself well, so that I can do the best possible job for the team and gain some valuable data for the weekend.”
He also drove his father’s 2004 Ferrari around the Mugello circuit this month at a Tuscan Grand Prix celebrating the Italian team’s 1,000th Formula One championship race.
Mick was 14 when his father suffered a severe brain injury in a skiing accident, while in the French Alps. He remained in a medically induced coma, in Grenoble, until June 2014.
Callum Ilott, a British driver who is second to Schumacher in F2, will drive a Haas at the Nürburgring on the same day as Schumacher. Russian driver Robert Shwartzman will drive in practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 11.
“I would like to thank Haas and Alfa Romeo Racing for offering Callum, Mick and Robert this opportunity. We believe strongly in our Academy, which has already proved its value, with Charles Leclerc, a driver on which the Scuderia can build its long term future.”
“Callum, Mick and Robert have already proved their worth in the current Formula 2 season and this test is a further step in their education”, Ferrari said in a statement.
The German racetrack was added to the F1 schedule after the coronavirus pandemic halted the season and will be officially known as the Eifel Grand Prix.
The Nürburgring last hosted a F1 race in 2013.
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