Mick Schumacher will follow in the footsteps of his father Michael by racing in Formula One.
The announcement was made Wednesday by the Haas F1 Team which confirmed the young Schumacher as one of its drivers for the 2021 season.
He will be joined by Russian driver Nikita Mazepin whose new role at Haas was announced Monday. Both drivers have signed a multi-year contract with the American team whose current lineup is made up of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.
Mick Schumacher has been a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy since early 2019 and already has quite an accomplished career in motorsport. This includes the title in the 2018 Formula Three European Championship and multiple wins in Formula Two in 2019 and 2020. He is also the current points leader in the 2020 F2 season.
The young Schumacher received his first taste of an F1 car with Ferrari during a test session in 2019. His preparations with Haas starts in a fortnight with a test during the first practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final round of the 2020 F1 season.
Haas is a feeder team for Ferrari, so a strong performance in the coming seasons could see Schumacher eventually promoted to Ferrari, the team where his father won five of his seven F1 titles.
"A huge thank you must also go to all the great motorsport fans out there who have supported me throughout my career,” Schumacher said in a statement. “I will give it my all, as I always do, and I look forward to going on this journey together with Haas F1 and them.”
In other F1 news, Mercedes-Benz AMG said its star driver and 2020 world champion Lewis Hamilton will be replaced by current Williams driver George Russell at this weekend's Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain. Hamilton contracted the Covid-19 coronavirus during last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix and remains in self-isolation. Mercedes said that other than some mild symptoms, Hamilton is fit and well.
