This article is about the German racing driver. For his father who was also a racing driver, seeMichael Schumacher. For the Luxembourgian athlete, seeMike Schumacher.
A member of theFerrari Driver Academy since 2019, Schumacher was a test driver forAlfa Romeo andHaas in2020, before signing with the latter as a full-time driver in2021. Making his Formula One debut at theBahrain Grand Prix alongsideNikita Mazepin, Haas failed to score points all season with theVF-21, with Schumacher finishing a season-best twelfth inHungary. Retaining his seat to partnerKevin Magnussen for2022, Schumacher scored his maiden points finish at theBritish Grand Prix, followed by a career-best sixth at theAustrian 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 bothMercedes andMcLaren in2023; he left both positions in2024.
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 creditschess 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]
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 theKF3 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 renamed to theKF-Junior. He finished 3rd in theGerman Championship and the CIK-FIA International Super Cup. In 2014, Schumacher competed under thepseudonymMick Junior—having already competed under the nameMick Betsch—and continued to race in KF-Junior.[12] He finished 2nd in the German Championship[13] as well as in theEuropean andWorld 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 inFormula 3 machinery by taking part in theMRF 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 behindHarrison Newey andJoey Mawson, but ahead of his futureFormula 3 andFormula 2 competitorsJüri Vips andFelipe Drugovich.
Mick Schumacher during the FIA Formula 3 round at Norisring in 2018
In April 2017, Schumacher made his debut in theFIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema Powerteam.[23] He finished the season in 12th place, his best finish being a 3rd place atMonza.[24] Schumacher was the lowest finisher of the four Prema drivers, however, he was the third-best-placed rookie in the championship.
Schumacher continued driving for Prema in the2018 championship. He suffered a slow start to the season, eventually taking his first win at the 15th race of the year atSpa-Francorchamps, almost halfway through the season. Before this race, he sat in 10th place in the championship, 67 points behind championship leaderDan 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 theFIA Formula 2 Championship in 2019 with Prema Racing, alongsideSean Gelael.[25] At the first round of the season inBahrain, Schumacher started 10th and finished 8th after passingNobuharu Matsushita on the final lap, giving him reverse-gridpole position for the sprint race, in which he finished sixth. Schumacher started from 7th in the feature race atBaku but was forced into retirement after a spin. He recovered from 19th to finish 5th in the sprint race. He failed to score points atBarcelona, suffering a collision in the first race and a time penalty for an illegal overtake onJack Aitken in the second. AtMonaco, Schumacher collided with multiple cars in the feature race, bringing out thered flag. He would fail to score points in either race. A double retirement came at theCircuit 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 theRed 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 atSilverstone with sixth place. He finished 8th at the feature race inHungary, 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 ofAnthoine 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 inRussia, after an engine issue in the first and a collision withGiuliano Alesi in the second. Schumacher finished the season with 9th and 11th-place finishes inAbu 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.
Schumacher continued with Prema in the2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, joined by reigningFIA Formula 3 champion and fellow Ferrari Driver Academy memberRobert Shwartzman. In the feature race at Austria, he went off while battlingCallum 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 inRussia and came third in the sprint race which was shortened due to a crash betweenLuca Ghiotto andJack 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 withRoy 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.
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 theFerrari SF90 during the first day of in-season testing atBahrain 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 forAlfa Romeo Racing the following day.
Schumacher was due to make his Formula One practice debut at the2020 Eifel Grand Prix in the first practice session, driving for Alfa Romeo in place ofAntonio Giovinazzi.[32] Due to bad weather conditions, the session was cancelled and he performed no running.[33] Schumacher instead made his practice debut at the2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, driving forHaas in place ofKevin 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 in2021 after signing a multi-year contract, alongsideNikita 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 byLando Norris andKimi Räikkönen respectively.[39] Ferrari team principalMattia 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 as2023.[40]
Schumacher qualified nineteenth for his debut race, theBahrain 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, theEmilia Romagna Grand Prix, he crashed in front of the pit lane exit during asafety car period, breaking off his front wing, and went on to finish sixteenth. He crashed heavily in practice for theMonaco 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 theAzerbaijan Grand Prix, he overtook Mazepin shortly before the finish line, beating him by 0.074 seconds to claim thirteenth place.
Schumacher caused qualifying at theFrench Grand Prix to bered-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 theHungarian 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 withMax Verstappen.[44] His first retirement of the season came at theRussian Grand Prix with an oil leak.[45] At theTurkish Grand Prix, Schumacher reached Q2 and qualified fourteenth, the highest qualifying position of his Formula One career at this point.[46] He andFernando 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 theMexico City Grand Prix fourteenth on the grid but was eliminated at the first corner after a collision withEsteban Ocon.[48] At theSaudi 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 theSF71H atFiorano Circuit.[49][50]
Schumacher remained with Haas for the2022 season, partneringKevin 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 openingBahrain Grand Prix, gaining positions due to the retirements of bothRed Bulls andPierre Gasly and achieving his best Formula One race result thus far. Schumacher missed theSaudi 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 theAustralian Grand Prix,[55] starting fifteenth and finishing thirteenth.[56] Schumacher was running in the top ten with three laps remaining of theMiami Grand Prix, but collided withSebastian 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 theSpanish Grand Prix but finished the race outside the points.[59] He had a heavy crash that split his car in half at theMonaco Grand Prix, causing the race to be red-flagged.[60]
Schumacher improved his best qualifying position at theCanadian Grand Prix, starting sixth. He was running in seventh place until an engine failure ended his race. At the following race, theBritish Grand Prix, he started nineteenth and recovered to eighth to score his first Formula One points.[61] A week later at theAustrian 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 theDutch Grand Prix but finished outside the points. He qualified last at theSão Paulo Grand Prix whilst teammate Magnussen claimed pole position and a point in the sprint race.
Ahead of the season-endingAbu Dhabi Grand Prix, Haas announced that they would part ways with Schumacher following the 2022 season.[64] He was replaced byNico Hülkenberg for2023.[65] Schumacher ended the season sixteenth in the World Drivers' Championship, with 12 points to Magnussen's 25.
In December 2022, Ferrari announced that they would be ending their collaboration with Schumacher after four years, Schumacher having joined theFerrari Driver Academy back in 2019.[66][67] On the same day,Mercedes-AMG confirmed Schumacher would take on the role of reserve driver for2023, following his departure from Haas.[68] Mercedes team principalToto Wolff described Schumacher as "still hungry to learn and improve" and "ready to step into the car at short notice" shouldLewis Hamilton orGeorge Russell be unable to race.[69] Schumacher was also made available as a reserve driver forMcLaren, in a continuation of an arrangement between Mercedes and its engine customer.[70] On 7 June, Schumacher drove theMercedes W14 for aPirelli tyre test at theCircuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.[71] On 5 July, he drove theMcLaren MCL35M in testing atPortimão.[72]
At the end of 2025, Schumacher confirmed that he was in talks of a return to the sport with new teamCadillac, but the team ultimately prioritised experience in their lineup withSergio Pérez andValtteri Bottas.[78]
Schumacher standing alongside his Alpine teammates on the third step of the podium of the2024 6 Hours of Fuji
The French outfit took their only podium finish of the year in Fuji where they took third in the closing laps, this result also marks Schumacher's first podium appearance since the2020 Sochi Formula 2 round.[80]