Mick Schumacher looking to repeat history in 2020

It's make or break year for young Mick Schumacher, the son of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher is expected to excel in the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship if his to follow in his father's footsteps.

Mick had a solid F2 debut last year, winning a race in Hungary, pretty much like he was in his first year of Formula 3 in which he finished 12th, but a year later he was 2018 F3 champion.

Last year he was 12th in the F2 standings and would need to win the F2 title for history to repeat itself in a aseason in which only a finish in the top three, if not the 2020 title, will do for the young Germanl.

Inducted into the Ferrari Driver Academy, 2019 was a big year for him, as he got his feet wet in F1 with his day of testing with Alfa Romeo and another day with Ferrari, in Bahrain last year.

This year he lines up with Prema Powerteam for a second crack at the F1 feeder series, with expectations high and the spotlight firmly on the youngster according to driver turned pundit Johnny Herbert.

Speaking at the Autosport Show, he said of young Schumi's second season in F2 “It’s an important season this year. If you stay there for too long, if you do a four-year stint which has happened a couple of times; for people like [Pastor] Maldonado and [Jolyon] Palmer, it hasn’t really turned into anything particularly brilliant. He has to do it, in my eyes, this year.”

Looking back on the 20-year-old German's rookie season in F2, Herbert did not beat about the bush, "Nothing that I would class as startling like we saw with Lando [Norris] and George [Russell].

[Mick's] race win in Hungary was very well controlled, very mature in the way that he was able to look after his tyres and the manner he did but keep the pace he needed to. I know it was a reverse grid so he was on pole position, but it was a good win.

“In my experience, when you have a win like that, you’re confidence grows. You go to the next race and actually, your performance goes up, but his performance didn’t go up. He was around seventh, eighth.

“It was his first season, but all of the guys that make a statement in the lower Formulas go in and go bang! It’s the George and Lando situation and past drivers have also done the same thing."

Herbert's assessment was that Mick is undoubtedly "good, but needs improvement."

"I know Ferrari have said that he’s an ‘option’ and all of that sort of thing. It’s a bit early for Mick on that front, but his demeanour is very good. 

"He’s a very nice young man and they’ve brought him on in a very nice way. But results speak," added the winner of three Grands Prix.

Mick driving father Michael's Ferrari F2004 during a demo run ahead of the 2019 German Garnd Prix is part of the 10 biggest sporting Laureus moments of the past 20 years. (Photo: Ferrari)

A day we'll never forget ✨@SchumacherMick has been nominated for the 'Sporting Moment' @LaureusSport award for driving his Father's Ferrari F2004 ❤️#F2 #RoadToF1 pic.twitter.com/4YMUH5YML0

— Formula 2 (@FIA_F2) January 15, 2020