Experts not sure Schumacher next F1 sensation

Two F1 experts are not so sure that Mick Schumacher will be the next sensation to hit the pinnacle of motor sport.

The 20-year-old son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher, watched on by mother Corinna in Bahrain, made his F1 test debut for Ferrari on Tuesday.

"They're not bad, are they?" said Mick's manager Nicolas Todt, referring also to Bahrain pole sitter Charles Leclerc, who almost won last Sunday.

However, former F1 driver Jan Lammers thinks Schumacher has so far shown that he lacks the meteoric punch with which drivers like Leclerc and Max Verstappen rose to the grid.

"There are the ones who make an immediate impression and those who take a little longer," he told Algemeen Dagblad newspaper.

"He needs a little longer than Max Verstappen, who has been the uncrowned world champion in terms of driving for the past four years except in the results.

"The car is very important, and that Schumacher is already driving a Ferrari helps," Lammers added.

Another F1 expert, seasoned Dutch commentator Olav Mol, is also yet to be blown away by Schumacher.

"I have yet to think 'Wow'. I see a young man who still has a way to go," he said.

At the same time, he said Schumacher obviously has talent.

"Ferrari would not pick him up just because of his surname, even it undoubtedly helps. The name alone won't get it done," added Mol.

"But to date, I have found him to be average in all of the previous classes. It's up to him to prove me wrong, but he has enough time," he said.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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