This article is about the German racing driver. For his father who was also a racing driver, see Michael Schumacher. For the Luxembourgian athlete, see Mike Schumacher.
A member of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2019, Schumacher was a test driver for Alfa Romeo and Haas in 2020, before signing with the latter as a full-time driver in 2021. Making his Formula One debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix alongside Nikita Mazepin, Haas failed to score points all season with the VF-21, with Schumacher finishing a season-best 12th in Hungary. Retaining his seat to partner Kevin Magnussen for 2022, Schumacher scored his maiden points finish at the British Grand Prix, with a career-best sixth at the Austrian Grand Prix. After a series of high-profile crashes, Schumacher was released by Haas at the end of the season, returning as a reserve driver for both Mercedes and McLaren in 2023; he left both in 2024.
Schumacher was skiing with his father when Michael suffered life-threatening brain injuries on 29 December 2013.[6] In March 2017, Mick first talked publicly about his father, describing him as "my idol" and "my role model".[7]
Schumacher credits chess as being an integral part of his mental preparation before a Formula One race.[9][10] He stated: "I feel like these games kind of bring focus back, as you always have to be switched on with your mind. In a weekend, I always want to be mentally ready for every challenge that comes."[10]
Junior racing career
Karting
Schumacher started his motorsport career in 2008. To avoid attention because of his famous father, he started his career under the pseudonym 'Mick Betsch', using his mother's maiden name.[11]
In 2011 and 2012, Schumacher drove in the KF3 class in the ADAC Kart Masters, ending in 9th and 7th respectively. In 2011 he finished 3rd in the Euro Wintercup in the KF3 class, repeating his success the following year.
In 2013 he continued his starts in the junior class, which got reneamed to the KF-Junior. He finished 3rd in the German Championship and the CIK-FIA International Super Cup. In 2014, Schumacher competed under the pseudonymMick Junior—having already competed under the name Mick Betsch—and continued to race in KF-Junior.[12] He finished 2nd in the German Championship[13] as well as in the European and World Championships.[14][15] Although he did not race under his real surname, his successes in karting were picked up by the international press.[16][17]
In November 2016, Schumacher made his first appearance in Formula 3 machinery by taking part in the MRF Challenge, a championship based in India. He competed in the upper Formula 2000 class and finished the series in 3rd place, collecting four wins, nine podiums, and two pole positions. Schumacher finished behind Harrison Newey and Joey Mawson, but ahead of his future Formula 3 and Formula 2 competitors Jüri Vips and Felipe Drugovich.
2017
Mick Schumacher during the FIA Formula 3 round at Norisring in 2018
In April 2017, Schumacher made his debut in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema Powerteam.[23] He finished the season in 12th place, his best finish being a 3rd place at Monza.[24] Schumacher was the lowest finisher of the four Prema drivers, however, he was the third-best-placed rookie in the championship.
2018
Schumacher continued driving for Prema in the 2018 championship. He suffered a slow start to the season, eventually taking his first win at the 15th race of the year at Spa-Francorchamps, almost halfway through the season. Before this race, he sat in 10th place in the championship, 67 points behind championship leader Dan Ticktum. However, Schumacher dominated the latter half of the season, taking seven more wins, including five consecutively. He ended the season as champion, 57 points clear of 2nd-placed Ticktum, taking eight wins, fourteen total podium finishes, seven pole positions, and four fastest laps.
Schumacher moved up to the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2019 with Prema Racing, alongside Sean Gelael.[25] At the first round of the season in Bahrain, Schumacher started 10th and finished 8th after passing Nobuharu Matsushita on the final lap, giving him reverse-grid pole position for the sprint race, in which he finished sixth. Schumacher started from 7th in the feature race at Baku but was forced into retirement after a spin. He recovered from 19th to finish 5th in the sprint race. He failed to score points at Barcelona, suffering a collision in the first race and a time penalty for an illegal overtake on Jack Aitken in the second. At Monaco, Schumacher collided with multiple cars in the feature race, bringing out the red flag. He would fail to score points in either race. A double retirement came at the Circuit Paul Ricard, after he was involved in a collision with teammate Gelael in the first race and suffered a puncture in the second.
Schumacher stalled on the grid at the Red Bull Ring and finished in 18th place before a charge through the field in the sprint race saw him finish 4th. Another sprint race points-finish came at Silverstone with sixth place. He finished 8th at the feature race in Hungary, taking reverse-grid pole for the sprint race and holding the position to take his first win in Formula 2. Schumacher qualified sixth at Spa-Francorchamps, but both races were cancelled due to an accident that caused the death of Anthoine Hubert. At Monza, he retired from the feature race from a power issue but recovered to finish sixth in the sprint race, also achieving the fastest lap. He retired from both races in Russia, after an engine issue in the first and a collision with Giuliano Alesi in the second. Schumacher finished the season with 9th and 11th-place finishes in Abu Dhabi. He ended the season in 12th place in the championship with 53 points, considerably ahead of teammate Gelael, and took one win and one fastest lap.
2020
Schumacher continued with Prema in the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, joined by reigning FIA Formula 3 champion and fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Robert Shwartzman. In the feature race at Austria, he went off while battling Callum Ilott for the race lead. In the second round at the same circuit, his fire extinguisher went off in the sprint race. In Hungary, Schumacher bounced back with a double podium. He then went on a run of 5 consecutive podiums from Spain to Monza, including a win in the Feature race at Monza, and took the Championship lead at Mugello. He won the feature race at the next round in Russia and came third in the sprint race which was shortened due to a crash between Luca Ghiotto and Jack Aitken.
At the Bahrain Round, he qualified in 10th and rose to fourth in the Feature race. He finished seventh in the Sprint race. As a result, Callum Ilott was able to bring the deficit down to 14 points going into the final round on the Outer Track at the same venue.
In Sakhir, Schumacher qualified a career-worst 18th following an incident with Roy Nissany. He produced a good recovery drive up to sixth with the fastest lap. This meant that the points gap stayed the same going into the final race. In the Sprint race, Schumacher flat-spotted his tyres while fighting for the lead, which led to him defending from Ilott for the first half of the race. After a few more lock-ups, he pitted for softs, dropping him out of the points. As a result of hard attacking and defending, Ilott's tires didn't fare much better and he too slowly fell out of the points. This result confirmed Schumacher as the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Champion.
Formula One career
Schumacher joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in January 2019,[26] citing Ferrari's ties with his family as a significant reason for joining. In April 2019, he made his debut behind the wheel of a modern Formula One car, piloting the Ferrari SF90 during the first day of in-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit. He completed 56 laps during the test.[27][28][29] He commented that being with Ferrari "felt like home" and that he was impressed by the braking power of the SF90.[30][31] He continued in-season testing for Alfa Romeo Racing the following day.
Schumacher was due to make his Formula One practice debut at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix in the first practice session, driving for Alfa Romeo in place of Antonio Giovinazzi.[32] Due to bad weather conditions, the session was cancelled and he performed no running.[33] Schumacher instead made his practice debut at the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, driving for Haas in place of Kevin Magnussen.[34] He later made an appearance for Haas at the post-season young drivers' test.
Ahead of the 2021 season, Schumacher requested to use the 'MSC' abbreviation for his name, shown on TV coverage. MSC was the abbreviation used by his father Michael, to distinguish between Michael and his brother Ralf, whose time in Formula One coincided. Schumacher had previously raced under the 'SCH' abbreviation in Formula 2.[35]
Schumacher drove for the Haas team in 2021 after signing a multi-year contract, alongside Nikita Mazepin, with whom he raced in go-karts.[36][37][38] He chose to race with the number 47 as his two favourite numbers, 4 and 7, were already in use by Lando Norris and Kimi Räikkönen respectively.[39] Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said that he expected Schumacher to have a "very difficult" first season, but added that he believed he could drive for Ferrari as early as 2023.[40]
Schumacher qualified nineteenth for his debut race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, ahead of teammate Mazepin. He spun on the first lap but was able to continue, eventually finishing last of the remaining drivers in sixteenth place. At the next race, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, he crashed in front of the pit lane exit during a safety car period, breaking off his front wing, and went on to finish sixteenth. He crashed heavily in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix and the team was unable to repair his car in time for qualifying. He performed one of the only on-track overtakes of the Grand Prix, passing Mazepin at the Grand Hotel Hairpin on the opening lap.[41] At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, he overtook Mazepin shortly before the finish line, beating him by 0.074 seconds to claim thirteenth place.
Schumacher caused qualifying at the French Grand Prix to be red-flagged after crashing, although this secured him fifteenth place on the grid and marked his first appearance in the second segment of qualifying (Q2).[42] He crashed in the final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix and was forced to miss qualifying as his car was not repaired in time.[43] He avoided the collisions on the opening lap and was classified twelfth in the race, later commenting that he was proud of his performance after having on-track battles with Max Verstappen.[44] His first retirement of the season came at the Russian Grand Prix with an oil leak.[45] At the Turkish Grand Prix, Schumacher reached Q2 and qualified fourteenth, the highest qualifying position of his Formula One career at this point.[46] He and Fernando Alonso collided on the opening lap, causing Schumacher to spin and eventually finish nineteenth. Alonso later apologised for his role in the incident.[47] He started the Mexico City Grand Prix fourteenth on the grid but was eliminated at the first corner after a collision with Esteban Ocon.[48] At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, his race ended on lap eight after crashing into a barrier, causing the race to be red-flagged.
Schumacher ended his debut season nineteenth in the drivers' championship, ahead of teammate Mazepin but with no points scored. He continued testing for Ferrari during the season, completing test sessions in the SF71H at Fiorano Circuit.[49][50]
Schumacher remained with Haas for the 2022 season, partnering Kevin Magnussen. He also served as a reserve driver for Ferrari during the season, sharing duties with Antonio Giovinazzi.[51][52]
Schumacher qualified twelfth and finished eleventh at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, gaining positions due to the retirements of both Red Bulls and Pierre Gasly and achieving his best Formula One race result thus far. Schumacher missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after a high-impact crash in qualifying.[53] He was transferred to hospital for precautionary checks and was released with no injuries.[54] He made his racing return for the Australian Grand Prix,[55] starting fifteenth and finishing thirteenth.[56] Schumacher was running in the top ten with three laps remaining of the Miami Grand Prix, but collided with Sebastian Vettel during an overtake attempt and dropped to fifteenth.[57][58] He reached the third qualifying session (Q3) for the first time in Formula One at the Spanish Grand Prix but finished the race outside the points.[59] He had a heavy crash that split his car in half at the Monaco Grand Prix, causing the race to be red-flagged.[60]
Schumacher improved his best qualifying position at the Canadian Grand Prix, starting sixth. He was running in seventh place until an engine failure ended his race. At the following race, the British Grand Prix, he started nineteenth and recovered to eighth to score his first Formula One points.[61] A week later at the Austrian Grand Prix, Schumacher qualified seventh and finished sixth;[62] his best Formula One result, promoting him to fifteenth place in the drivers' championship at the halfway point of the 2022 season.[63] However, this would be his final points finish of the season. He reached Q3 again at the Dutch Grand Prix but finished outside the points. He qualified last at the São Paulo Grand Prix whilst teammate Magnussen claimed pole position and a point in the sprint race.
Ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Haas announced that they would part ways with Schumacher following the 2022 season.[64] He was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg for 2023.[65] Schumacher ended the season sixteenth in the World Drivers' Championship, with 12 points to Magnussen's 25.
Reserve driver roles (2023–2024)
In December 2022, Ferrari announced that they would be ending their collaboration with Schumacher after four years, Schumacher having joined the Ferrari Driver Academy back in 2019.[66][67] On the same day, Mercedes-AMG confirmed Schumacher would take on the role of reserve driver for 2023, following his departure from Haas.[68] Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described Schumacher as "still hungry to learn and improve" and "ready to step into the car at short notice" should Lewis Hamilton or George Russell be unable to race.[69] Schumacher was also made available as a reserve driver for McLaren, in a continuation of an arrangement between Mercedes and its engine customer.[70] On 7 June, Schumacher drove the Mercedes W14 for a Pirelli tyre test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.[71] On 5 July, he drove the McLaren MCL35M in testing at Portimão.[72]
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