Mick Schumacher 'not as crazy as Max' - van Amersfoort

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Motorsports veteran Frits van Amersfoort says that Mick Schumacher has a more studied approach to racing than the wilder-at-heart Max Verstappen.

Van Amersfoort has an inside track on the subject, having worked with both drivers in junior categories.

Verstappen drove for Van Amersfoort Racing in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in 2014, while Schumacher was one of the drivers for the team in ADAC Formula 4 the following year.

Schumacher went on to win the 2018 F3 title with PREMA Theodore Racing, while Verstappen headed straight into F1 with Toro Rosso in 2015 and currently drives for Red Bull.

Schumacher clinches Euro F3 title at Hockenheim!

"There are many racing drivers who believe they need to do everything their way," he told Sport1. "Mick has always shown that he wants to learn.

"Mick is a racing guy who works a lot," van Amersfoort continued. "He's not as crazy as Max.

"Mick uses his head. His strength is that he wants to - and does - win races with his head.

"He probably learned from his father that in racing you cannot just drive, you also have to work hard. That's why he is where he wants to be now."

Schumacher clinched the European Formula 3 championship over Dan Ticktum last month with an impressive late run of victories in September in races at the Nurburgring and the Red Bull Ring.

The 19-year-old has now been tipped to be fast-tracked to F1 within the next two or three years, with Lewis Hamilton saying recently that he was "100 per cent" certain the Schumacher name would soon be back in Formula 1.

Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone agreed with Hamilton's assessment.

©Formula3

"Mick is well on the way to Formula 1," he told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. "He is doing a fantastic job."

Ecclestone added that his only regret is that Mick's father, seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, had been unable to take an active role in developing his son's career in the sport.

"It's just too bad that his father can not support him," Ecclestone said. The former Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes driver continues to recover from injuries sustained in a 2013 accident while skiing in the French Alps with his son.

However, before F1 it seems that Mick's immediate future lies first with a full season in Formula 2 before he looks to jump into Grand Prix racing in 2020.

"Am I ready for Formula 1?" the driver himself mused after winning the F3 title. "I prefer to move forward gradually, step by step, preparing really well."

"Let’s see what the future brings," advised two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. "[We shouldn't be] putting extra pressure on him, which I’m sure he has enough of already. Let time decide."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.