As the F4 UAE Championship prepares for its second round this weekend, they welcome four new faces, with one of them, David Schumacher making his racing debut. David is the son of multiple Formula 1 race winner Ralf Schumacher as he prepares for his first full season in ADAC Formula 4 this year.
The young Schumacher will join the US Racing/Rasgaira Motorsports team that his father Ralf co-owns and runs in the ADAC series. It was announced that David will stay on for the rest of the season, joining Czech teammate Petr Ptáček.
Schumacher makes the step up after finishing as runner-up in the 2017 German Karting Championship. He’s also made appearances in the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship, finishing thirteenth overall.
“This weekend is all about trying new things for me.” said David. “While it would be great to win races it’s also important to learn as much as I can about the handling of these cars, get used to the grip levels, practice my starts and just make sure I’m refining my driving as much as I can.”
He took pole position in his first qualifying session at the Yas Marina Circuit, though lost out in the opening race to Olli Caldwell.
Patrik Pasma Joins Schumacher in the Desert
Also making their debut this weekend are Amaury Cordeel, Edoardo Morricone and British F4 driver Patrik Pasma. The Finn who recorded four podiums last season, finished eighth in the overall standings as he assesses his option for the upcoming season. He is not the first racer from the series to enter the UAE championship tough, with vice-champions Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant finding success last year.
“Racing against Logan [Sargeant] and Oscar Piastri in the UK was really competitive but everyone is saying good things about F4UAE and it is good to always do racing in the winter. I learnt a lot in my first season of F4 and I like that here we are racing the same cars which is helping me with more time in the seat.” said Pasma.
Leclerc’s Brother to make Debut in 2018
It has been a big week for drivers with F1 relatives as Arthur Leclerc, brother of FIA Formula 2 Champion and Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 driver Charles Leclerc will make his racing debut this year as he enters the FIA F4 French Championship.
Arthur Leclerc, who according to social media has also been testing the Italian F4 machinary with Prema Powerteam, will become the youngest driver in the series after being announced on the same day as Nicolas Todt’s latest protege Caio Collet to the same series. 12 drivers have so far been signed.
