Mick Schumacher will demonstrate one of the Ferraris his father Michael drove to the 2004 Formula 1 title, as part of this year’s German Grand Prix. Ferrari protege Mick is racing in Formula 2 this season but the feeder series is not on the Hockenheim schedule despite the desire of the race’s promoter.
German GP organisers were keen for Mick to be involved in the event and had eyed a demo of some kind, which has now been confirmed. Mick will drive one of the dominant F2004s that Michael used on his way to the seventh and last of his F1 world championships.
Michael Schumacher used four chassis on his way to the 2004 title and an F1 announcement said Mick will drive one of these across two days at Hockenheim. He will run on track ahead of F1 qualifying on Saturday July 27 before driving again ahead of the drivers’ parade on Sunday.
“I think it’s mega driving this car at Hockenheim,” said Schumacher. – “The last time I was on this track was when I celebrated my Formula 3 championship title, and now I’ll be able to drive one of the strongest cars in Formula 1 history there – a big grin creeps into my face. All motorsport crazy people can look forward to a very special and wonderfully loud moment.”
Mick Schumacher’s father won four grands prix at Hockenheim. The F1 legend’s former technical director Ross Brawn, now managing director of motorsport at F1, said it would be “an emotional moment” to see his ex-driver’s son driving the car.
Brawn described the F2004, which took 15 wins in a crushing season, as the “culmination of a golden period, which was the result of all the hard work from an amazing group of people and Michael Schumacher, a supremely talented driver”.
He added: “I’m sure that all the fans at Hockenheim will be pleased to see it roaring around the track again, especially with Mick in the cockpit. One of the requests we get most often from fans is to see the cars that wrote F1 history back on track, so this demonstration run at Hockenheim will be truly unmissable.”
It is not the first time Mick has driven one of his father’s cars at a grand prix. His first F1 came at the Belgian Grand Prix in 2017, when he drove one of Michael’s 1994 title-winning Benettons.
The Prema F2 driver has had a difficult start to his rookie season in the main feeder category after winning the 2018 European Formula 3 title.
However, he charged from 18th on the grid to finish fourth in Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring, which lifted him to 13th in the points.
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