Mick Schumacher could get more media attention than Lewis Hamilton initially as he begins his Formula 1 career, Nico Rosberg claims.
The F2 champion steps up to the F1 grid with Haas this season, nine years after his seven-time world champion father Michael Schumacher retired at the end of 2012.
Naturally, given his famous surname, Mick’s debut this weekend and performance throughout 2021 will be followed in greater detail than arguably any rookie F1 driver before him.
And Nico, who knows the kind of pressure Schumacher Jr is facing as the son of 1982 F1 champion Keke Rosberg, admits it will be a challenge for the German, who turns 22 on Monday.
“It is not easy to be the ‘son of’,” he told F1-Insider.com. “With Mick, it is again 10 times more difficult because Michael’s days weren’t that long ago and he was even more successful.
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“The media attention will be great, initially probably even greater than that of Lewis Hamilton.
“I hope that Mick can put that aside and concentrate on his job – otherwise it takes away a lot of the fun,” Rosberg added.
“The media won’t give him time but it takes time and patience. After all, I had to wait seven years to win my first race and even 11 years to win the title. You have to keep that in mind if you want to rate Mick this year.”
Schumacher has previously acknowledged many times the unique position he is in following his father into F1. But despite a tricky pre-season, he is eager to get started.
“I would be ready to go racing tomorrow,” said Mick. “We did so much analysis through Friday.
“[Teammate] Nikita [Mazepin] was able to drive and get the race runs in so I was able to go through all the data and on Saturday, I was able to correlate that.
“I was able to extract the feeling that I have on track and really feel every little change that I do that changes the way the tyre behaves on track and the car behaves on track.
“I do feel ready. I would go racing tomorrow if it was up to me.”
