Ferrari’s current driver line-up believes Mick Schumacher has shown he deserve a promotion to Formula 1 in the future.
Meanwhile Kimi Raikkonen, who will be Schumacher’s team mate when he makes his debut in the first practice session tomorrow, said the 21-year-old reminds him of his seven-times championship-winning father.
“We’ve spoken some years back already,” said Raikkonen. “He’s a great guy.“He’s a copy of his father in many ways, and it’s great to see him. I think it’s nice that he’ll be in the car tomorrow.”
With cold and possibly wet conditions expected this weekend, Raikkonen said he hoped the weather would be good enough for ‘normal running’ for Schumacher, who will take over Antonio Giovinazzi’s car.
“Obviously it’s sad for Antonio,” said Raikkonen, “but it’s FP1 and hopefully the weather can be kind of OK so we’ll get the normal running. If it’s just miserable like today then it’s not gonna be that much fun, but I think it’s great to see him doing his first FP1.”
Schumacher has previously driven for Ferrari during last year’s in-season test, in Bahrain and drove his father’s F2004 at Hockenheim last year, during a demonstration run but has never participated in a race weekend session before.
Current Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, the only Ferrari driver Academy member to be promoted to the Scuderia, feels Schumacher has little to prove in his first official F1 appearance.
“Looking at the conditions of this weekend, it’s probably not the easiest of the debuts. But speaking to him, I think every time he tried a Formula 1 car or a new car, it was always in the rain. So it won’t change much for him.”
“It is going to be a tricky session, but he doesn’t have to prove anything. I think he has proved everything he had to in Formula 2 this season. And I’m sure he will do a great job tomorrow.”
Sebastian Vettel is also convinced Schumacher is ready for a promotion to Formula 1.
“I think he deserves his shot this weekend. Hopefully we’ll see him not not only tomorrow, but another Friday this year and then hopefully in the car and the races next year.”
“He’s having a great season,” Vettel added. “He’s leading the Formula 2 championship and I hope he can seal a seat for next year. I think he’s a great kid”
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Rodber
8th October 2020, 19:03
Kimi is a generous guy and exceptionally fair. He is not given to idle chatter, so praise from him is praise indeed.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
8th October 2020, 19:24
I can’t remember the last time I heard Kimi being so positive!
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
8th October 2020, 22:58
Me neither. This kid must be better than we noticed so far.
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
8th October 2020, 23:23
Sorry you’ve missed the F2 season.
Sean (@seanloh)
9th October 2020, 1:50
Mick always seems to come alive in the latter half of his second season in a series.
Tim
9th October 2020, 5:39
Exactly. He’s maybe a slow learner, but once he finds his rhythm he’s pretty consistent.
franco
9th October 2020, 9:54
Once you are with Prema, and people wan’t you in F1, usually Prema get’s the job done.
ince
9th October 2020, 7:45
Schumacher jar will find it impossibly difficult to get a competitive seat in f1 in the near future. I wish him well though
Aiii (@)
9th October 2020, 8:24
I believe the F2 champion at any given season should get at least a shot at F1, famous last name or no.
MacLeod (@macleod)
9th October 2020, 8:30
You know that isn’t true as other things matter more! (Nick de Vries)
Aiii (@)
9th October 2020, 8:37
I know it doesn’t happen, but it should happen. De Vries is a good example of simply having no options at all in current F1 where everyone is affiliated with one of the three top teams, junior drivers and customer teams in F1 both.
I’m not sure De Vries would’ve been good in F1, but he should’ve at least have had a season or two to prove his worth. Opportunities in F1 are so rare these days, but even the F2 champion not getting a shot is not what you want from your prime junior series.
Shimks (@shimks)
9th October 2020, 9:30
I totally agree, @aiii. It should be somehow guaranteed that the F2 Champion gets some practice sessions.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
9th October 2020, 10:16
The rule with GP2, and so I suppose the rule applies to F2 as well, is the series champion has to leave. I’m not sure why that is, but if F2 is a training ground for F1 racers then it sort of makes sense, but for it to make better sense then the F2 series champion for each season should be guaranteed a position within F1 in the subsequent season. For example, if we take the example of Nick de Vries, he won the 2019 season of the F2 series so F1 should have guaranteed him a spot within F1 this season. Jolyon Palmer is another name that comes to mind. Admittedly that would probably be a seat in Williams or Haas, but at least it would be a seat. Unfortunately I suspect there’s more involved than just putting a driver in a seat and expecting good things to happen.
Puffy (@puffy)
9th October 2020, 9:54
I wonder how feasible it would be to have an independent FIA funded non-profit team, perhaps as a customer team to keep costs down, that would always run the winner and runner-up of the previous Formula2 season.
It would give young drivers a real prize to aspire to, and then the opportunity to showcase their talent for Formula 1 teams in an actual Formula 1 season in the hopes that they get a seat with one of the teams the following season.
It might also help the FIA in crafting rules having an actual functioning F1 team to gather data from.