Mick Schumacher Reveals the Reason Behind his Name Change

Mick Schumacher is one driver who has arrived with massive baggage on his shoulders. His last name is undoubtedly a massive attraction for fame, and sometimes even criticism and pressure. His father, Michael Schumacher, is considered the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time.

A lesser person would have cracked under the enormous weight of the Schumacher name. However, Mick Schumacher is of the opinion that having his name can be an advantage.

Though, it was worth noting that in his early racing career, Mick Schumacher raced under his mother’s maiden name. The sole aim of that move was to try and limit his exposure to the press. It was only afterward that he elected to race under his real name. Now, the young German believes that his name can be an advantage.

“I’d say it’s more of an advantage to me,” he said to the Road to F1 podcast. “Before I drove the Formula series, I always used my mother’s name or ‘junior’. This caused the hype to be crushed a little and gave me time to develop. From the moment I drove the Formula’s, it was a good time to consider putting my real name on the car.”

“Did I drive with more freedom when I had my mother’s name on the car? I wouldn’t call it that. When photos were taken, I was always the person who kindly asked if they wouldn’t like to do that so that we could guard the privacy. It also gave me the opportunity to learn at my own speed. That was very positive for me.”

If his F2 career is any proof, Schumacher’s career is progressing well and a move to the big leagues cannot be far behind. His impressive run has given Mick Schumacher reason to believe that the name change worked well.

He reminisced that he had a couple of interesting first few weekends with a victory in Formula 4. Then in the three races after that there were two crashes; A special start. In his second year things were fairly underwhelming, but he managed to ounce back stronger.

He will hopefully continue his steady development and possibly follow in his father’s footsteps and make it to Formula 1.