The son of legendary Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher, Mick Schumacher, will drive for Alfa Romeo in FP1 of the Eifel GP which is happening at the iconic Nurburgring track, later this week. Mick Schumacher is tipped to join the Alfa Romeo team, which is the sister team of Scuderia Ferrari, with whom his father won five world championships between 2000-2004.
Schumacher is currently leading the F2 championship and even won the last race in Sochi. Schumacher who is part of the Ferrari driver academy drivers for its junior team, Prema, in F2. Alongside Schumacher, his Prema and Ferrari driver academy teammate, Callum Ilott will driver for the Haas F1 team in FP1 of the race at Nurburgring. Haas also has close ties to Ferrari as the Italian giant supplies the engine and other critical components to F1 team.
Alfa Romeo Racing Team currently has Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo Credit: AFP
The other high profile junior from the Ferrari Driver Academy is Robert Shwartzman who at one point was leading the F2 championship. He is slated to be driving for Haas in the FP1 of the race at Abu Dhabi.
Mick Schumacher was long has been billed to join Ferrari at some point in his career considering the legendary status of his father. Ferrari F1 team principal Mattia Binnotto has often talked about the progress the young Schumacher has been making in F2. Many believe that Carlos Sainz Jr is a stop-gap arrangement till the day Mick Schumacher is read to join his father's old team.
Schumacher is expected to join the Alfa Romeo team in 2021 which currently has Kimi Raikkonen and Antonia Giovinazzi. At the Russian GP Raikkonen equalled the record of the most F1 race starts which was held by Ruben Barichello. Raikkonen was the last Ferrari driver to win the world crown. Currently, he is the oldest driver on the F1 grid and there are rumblings that he may retire. Even if that doesn't happen, it is quite likely that Giovinazzi's time at the Italian team is over as he has failed to set the stage on fire.
Even Haas is in the market for new drivers. There are rumours which suggest that Sergio Perez has signed a contract with the team but there is another seat open which could go to Callum Illott or Robert Shwartzman.
Mick Schumacher has previously tested for Ferrari
More recently, Schumacher drove the 2004 Ferrari which was driven by his father for his last world crown before the start of the Tuscan GP at Mugello which was also Ferrari's 1000th race start in F1. Nurburgring is also said to be one of the favourite tracks of his father which is considered to be one of the most dangerous tracks on the planet. The track is also few kilometres away from the village of the Schumacher's so this will be a special moment.
At the race, Lewis Hamilton is also expected to equal Michael Schumacher's all time record of 91 race wins. The current world champion is also expected to equal Schumacher's record of most world crowns at the end of season.
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