How Schumacher Jr earned his Haas F1 chance

Michael Schumacher may have won seven Formula 1 titles, but he didn't even compete for a crown at the second tier. Son Mick put that right in 2020, and proved to Ferrari that he was deserving of a shot at motorsport's elite category in 2021

Published Jan 9, 2021, 4:08 PM

Stooped by the side of his car in parc ferme, Mick Schumacher drew his hand through his open visor, struggling to fight back the welling tears. A frantic final round of the FIA Formula 2 season on the Bahrain outer loop had begun with him qualifying a lowly 18th, before he fought back to sixth in the feature race. Then he'd locked up on the first lap of the sprint race and was forced to pit due to the resulting flat-spot. But he'd held on to be crowned champion.

It was not a title success that clinched him a graduation to Formula 1 for 2021, for that had already been agreed weeks earlier and announced by Haas three days before his coronation. But for Schumacher, it was a statement. For all of the weight of expectation faced as the son of a seven-time F1 world champion, he had made his mark all by himself against a fiercely competitive F2 field.

comments

Author Luke Smith

Luke Smith is Autosport’s Formula 1 reporter. Luke has been working in F1 as a journalist since 2013, initially alongside a History degree at University College London. Luke served as the lead F1 writer at American broadcaster NBC Sports from 2013-17 before spending two years as the F1 Editor for Crash.net. Luke joined Autosport for the 2020 season.

Luke is also a contributor to The New York Times for its F1 special reports, and has previously worked with Al Jazeera and CNBC, as well as hosting FIA press conferences. Outside of F1, Luke is a fan of sports and music, with an ever-growing vinyl collection, and has being bitten by the running bug in recent years. He also runs a surprisingly popular blog reviewing the often-terrible media centre coffee from his F1 travels.