Haas F1 says Mick Schumacher has bright future: ‘He doesn’t want to live off the name’

Associated PressDec 2, 2020, 10:00 AM EST
Mick Schumacher F1 future
Haas F1
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SAKHIR, Bahrain — Mick Schumacher will make his debut in Formula One next season for the Haas F1 team, which will be tasked with guiding the future of a driver who will be scrutinized because of his surname.

Haas announced Wednesday the signing of the 21-year-old son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher, bringing the famous name back to the grid for the first time since the seven-time champion retired at the end of the 2012 season. His path has been guided by Ferrari, the team that delivered five of Michael Schumacher’s titles.

Mick Schumacher will be stepping up from Formula Two, where he leads the standings with one round to go. He has two victories and 10 podiums this season.

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner said in an interview with SkySports that the team’s goal was to get Schumacher acclimated to F1, possibly grooming him for an eventual move into a first-tier ride.

“We need to try to grow him as much as possible to lead him into F1 for his future,” Steiner said. “He’s got a great future in front of him, and we’re the first step for him. We’re trying to introduce him to F1 as a driver, as a personality and that’s our aim for the next two to three years to make him ready for the future.”

Steiner noted there will be a brighter spotlight on the 2021 rookie because “he’s called Schumacher. These things come with pluses and minuses Sometimes people will be critical, but I think that drives him more to be successful. He doesn’t want to live off the name. He wants to live off his results.”

Schumacher joined Ferrari’s Driver Academy development program in 2019, and his arrival continues a close relationship between Haas and the Italian carmaker, which supplies the U.S. team’s engines and numerous other components. He will be teamed at Haas with Russian driver Nikita Mazepin.

He has tested F1 cars with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo Racing and had been scheduled to drive Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo in two practices at the Nurburgring in October before the sessions were scrubbed for inclement weather. Schumacher still was part of the race weekend, presenting one of his father’s helmets to Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time champion tied the elder Schumacher’s record for F1 victories.

Mick Schumacher presented Lewis Hamilton with a helmet of  Michael Schumacher’s after Hamilton’s 91st victory in F1 (Peter Fox/Getty Images).

In a social media video from Haas F1, Schumacher said reaching the series “really has been a dream that I’ve always dreamed about and now it’s finally coming true, so I’m just emotionally exploding really.

“The prospect of being on the Formula 1 grid next year makes me incredibly happy and I’m simply speechless,” Schumacher, who will make a practice debut with the team next week in Abu Dhabi, said in a release.

“I would like to thank Haas F1 Team, Scuderia Ferrari and the Ferrari Driver Academy for placing their trust in me. I also want to acknowledge and extend my love to my parents. I know that I owe them everything. I have always believed that I would realize my dream of Formula 1.

“A huge thank you must also go to all the great motorsport fans out there who have supported me throughout my career. I will give it my all, as I always do, and I look forward to going on this journey together with Haas F1 and them.”

Haas is replacing drivers Romain Grosjean, who has been with the team since its 2016 inception, and Kevin Magnussen, who joined in 2017.

Grosjean will miss Sunday’s second race in Bahrain after his fiery crash at the same venue last week and will be temporarily replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi.

Haas said Schumacher will make his team debut in the first practice session for the season finale in Abu Dhabi and also will be part of the young driver test at the Yas Marina circuit.

There is a chance that Schumacher could make his F1 debut with Haas in place of Grosjean at the Dec. 13 race, but Steiner said Grosjean would make the decision on whether he will drive in his final race for the team.

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33.  Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports