The 21-year-old German, whose Ferrari great
father won seven world championships including five with the
Italian team, makes his F1 race debut with Haas in Bahrain on
March 28.
"I'm very happy to carry that surname, and I'm very happy to
carry that name back into Formula One, and I'm very proud of
it," he told reporters on a video call as Haas unveiled their
new Ferrari-powered car.
"It's like a boost for me and it gives me motivation every
single day."
Haas scored only three points last year and finished ninth of 10
teams.
They are already more focused on 2022, when the rules change,
and Schumacher -- last year's Formula Two champion and a Ferrari
Academy driver -- could be facing a difficult year among the
backmarkers.
Schumacher said he would be pushing to improve his performance
in every race with the simple target of doing the best he
possibly could.
One immediate hurdle he has had to overcome has been the factory
seat fitting, with travel restrictions and quarantine due to the
COVID-19 pandemic making that a time-consuming undertaking.
"It hasn't been easy, travelling to England has been very
restricted," he said.
"We've had a plan and then the rules changed and I had to
self-quarantine, so I had to find a spot where I could give up
10 days basically to give myself the room to go to the team for
one and a half days."
He said the seat fitting started at 0800 and finished at 2230
but it was worth it.
"It feels good... a seat is always very special," he added. "I'm
pretty sure I've got a good seat."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
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