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The inside story of Schumacher's rise

Mick Schumacher's meteoric rise became widely known in his late dominance of the Formula 3 European Championship. But that signs of his potential were clear in an under-the-radar showing a year ago

It was literally a footnote in Autosport magazine's in-depth coverage of last year's Macau Grand Prix, and that's because Mick Schumacher's pace had been scuppered by an incident that pretty much put him out of contention before the race had even begun.

But in hindsight, his performance on the famous streets exactly 12 months ago was the launchpad to the 2018 form that ended with him wresting the Formula 3 European Championship title with Prema Powerteam.

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Author Marcus Simmons

Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.

Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.