Mick Schumacher was delighted to secure his maiden FIA European Formula 3 Championship pole position at Spa-Francorchamps on Thursday, with the German eyeing up a maiden victory in the category around a circuit that his father, Michael Schumacher, has been long been associated with.
His father made his Formula 1 debut at Spa-Francorchamps in electrifying fashion in 1991 with the Jordan F1 Team, while he took his maiden win just twelve months later at the same circuit with the Benetton F1 Team, and ultimately was a winner there six times in his storied F1 career, twice with Benetton and four times with Scuderia Ferrari.
The Prema Theodore Racing driver was disappointed with his first session after qualifying only seventeenth, but he came back strongly in the second to take pole position for the first time in the category, and he is determined to leave Spa with strong results.
“It’s amazing to score my first pole position in Formula 3, I am really happy!” said Schumacher. “This result shows our potential on a track where many variables like traffic or slipstreams can make things more challenging, as we have seen in the first qualifying which did not evolve as expected.
“As for the races, I obviously look forward to especially race 2 tomorrow afternoon. I will certainly try to get the most out of this weekend.”
Team-mate Guan Yu Zhou was able to claim pole position for race three after his second fastest lap of the second session was the quickest of anyone, with the Chinese driver delighted to grab the position despite not being given any slipstream around the lap.
“It was a good qualifying day,” said Zhou. “Qualifying 1 was eventful with all the slipstream issues but P4 is OK. At the beginning of qualifying 2, it was tricky to find lines and then when we put the second set there weren’t many laps to go and every lap was improving.
“I’m happy with my P3 in race 2 and of course, it’s amazing to take my second pole position of the year for race 3, especially without any slipstream.”
