2016 F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg has insisted that Mick Schumacher “completely” deserves to be in Formula One due to his strong track record in junior categories.
Mick, son of seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, is racing with Haas in his rookie season after winning the 2020 Formula Two Championship.
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While some have suggested that Schumacher is only in Formula One because of his surname, Rosberg has no doubt that the young German deserves his place on the grid.
“Mick deserves to be in Formula 1 completely because he dominated all the categories before that – including Formula 2 ultimately, where he became Champion,” Rosberg said.
“It’s fun to watch him and he’s doing quite well. It’s important that we give him time, because Formula 1 is logically the top class, you don’t come in and dominate all at once.
“You have to give him time and he has that now, that he first learns everything: the car with the engineers, the setup, getting the most out of it in qualifying – you have to work your way into it and I think he will have a good future ahead of him,” he added.
Last month, Ralf Schumacher, Mick’s uncle, said he believes that the F1 rookie will have to push hard to beat his team-mate, Nikita Mazepin, despite the Russian finishing fifth in last year’s Formula Two standings.
“I still say Mazepin, along with the great support of his father, also has a certain amount of talent and very good preparation,” Ralf said.
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“He is anything but easy to iron out in the team.”
Continuing, Ralf emphasised that Mick’s success in the junior categories don’t mean anything in Formula One and he will be judged solely on his F1 performances.
“The question is which rookie will get around the track faster now,” he said.
“He [Mick] will have found his way around the team now, but it’s a process that takes a long time. We hope Mick can master this task.”
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