Schumacher welcomes pressure ahead of F1 debut

Mick Schumacher says he can deal with all the hype surrounding his meteoric rise to Formula 1. Ferrari and Alfa Romeo have now confirmed reports that the 20-year-old son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher will test for both teams on consecutive days in Bahrain next week.

Schumacher Jnr will be in Sakhir this weekend as he debuts in Formula 1 with Prema Powerteam, the team with which he won European Formula 3 last year.

His presence in the test is certain to dominate the headlines, but the extra attention is nothing new for the German.

"It's just the way it has always been," he told Kolner Express.

"If you take someone who is not used to it and put him in my position, maybe it would be different. I had the time to grow in there. That helped me a lot."

His uncle, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, said he would like Mick's rise to the pinnacle of motorsport to be quieter.

"It should be a little bit more relaxed for him and first let him develop," the former Williams and Toyota driver told DPA news agency.

Ralf wished his nephew well for his Formula 2 debut in Bahrain this weekend.

"He proved his potential with the Formula 3 championship, but in Formula 2 everything starts from scratch."

View this post on Instagram

I am obviously more than excited about driving the @f1 Rookie Tests and would like to thank @scuderiaferrari and @sauberf1team for giving me that chance. I really look forward to making this great experience. But I am now consciously pushing these thoughts away from me, because I am also very much looking forward to competing in my first @fiaf2championship race and would like to concentrate to 100% and more on the weekend to come. Credit: @f1

A post shared by Mick Schumacher (@mickschumacher) on Mar 26, 2019 at 1:52pm PDT

Indeed, the pressure on young Schumacher is high.

"If he performs well this season there is a chance for him to be in F1 in 2020," Dutch former F1 test driver Bas Leinders told the Sporza news agency.

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"He's clearly good, and he can develop in the best circumstances, through his name and the budget that comes with it.

"But I don't think Mick Schumacher is as good as Stoffel Vandoorne, even if he will get more opportunities and more resources."

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