Gerhard Berger says Mick Schumacher has all the positive attributes of his father Michael Schumacher, including the driving genes that took him to seven World Formula 1 Drivers’ Championships.
Michael Schumacher took two crown’s with the Benetton F1 Team in 1994 and 1995 before clinching five consecutive championships with Scuderia Ferrari between 2000 and 2004.
The younger Schumacher clinched the FIA European Formula 3 Championship by finishing second to Jüri Vips in Saturday’s second race of the weekend at the Hockenheimring, and Berger, who raced against Michael between 1991 and when he retired from Formula 1 at the end of 1997 and is now the chairman of DTM Series promoters ITR, says he is very happy that the nineteen-year-old clinched the title with one race to spare.
Berger says Mick has done all this under immense pressure but in his own way, and he sees no reason why he cannot follow in his father’s footsteps and make it into Formula 1 if he continues to deliver performance levels at the standard he has been in 2018.
“Of course, I am happy for Mick,” said Berger. “He has prevailed and won the title early with a podium finish by his own means today. However, I am also very happy for Michael Schumacher and I wish that he will be back with us one day to watch Mick’s future career together with all of us.
“Mick doesn’t only look like his father, doesn’t only have the same posture and the same walk, he even has his father’s forearms as I noticed yesterday. But the decisive thing is: particularly in the past weeks, he has proven that he has his father’s racing driver genes.
“When he is able to keep on delivering this performance, his career path will bring him into Formula 1.”
