Mick Schumacher claimed he is in Formula 1 because he loves the sport not because his father is the great Michael Schumacher, as there was never pressure on him to become a racing driver, racing being the family business.
Schumacher joined F1 with Haas in 2021 after winning the F2 and F3 titles. He is on his second season in top flight with the American outfit, and remains part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, but there is always debate around the young driver regarding his worthiness as an F1 driver, or is getting all this support just because of his family name.
The young Schumacher has a decent debut season with Haas beating his teammate at the time Nikita Mazepin, which in no way meant he is the real deal, as the now axed Russian driver was never a proper benchmark for the German.
In 2022, Kevin Magnussen was drafted to replace Mazepin - who was fired from Haas as F1 sought to distance itself from Russia due to its war on Ukraine - and the Dane immediately beat Schumacher despite spending one year away from the sport.
Recently, Schumacher has shown some glimmer of hope has he scored his first points in F1 at the 2022 British Grand Prix, and followed that by another points' scoring weekend in Austria, where he showed great skill fighting with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the Sprint Race and the Grand Prix.
If I don't want to do this, I don't have to
Speaking in an interview with Channel 4, Schumacher was asked how he dealt with the pressure of who his father was, and was adamant that he was in F1 because he loved it and it's what he wanted to do.
"I think the easiest way to answer that is to tell you why I’m here, and the reason why I’m here is because I love the sport," Schumacher said.
"I love racing, I love ultimately also winning," he added. "For me there was never a doubt that I wanted to race in Formula 1, no matter who my dad was, but he’s so much more to me as well.
"He’s my dad and I’ve had a great upbringing and I’m able to evaluate where I need to put pressure on myself and where not," the Haas driver explained.
Schumacher insisted he is not racing in F1 just because it's the family business, revealing: "I think that’s one of the things where I don’t need to put pressure on myself and that has been quite clear from day one.
"If I don’t want to do this I don’t have to – and I still want to do it and still want to make a name for myself as well and race well in Formula 1," the 23-year-old maintained.
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