FIA Formula 3 racer David Schumacher, son of grand prix winner Ralf, will compete for Racing Point in the next round of Formula 1’s Virtual Grand Prix Series at Interlagos.
The British team, wich will become Aston Martin next year, has a mutual sponsor with the 18-year-old in water company BWT.
Schumacher is entering his third season in single-seaters this year, having debuted with a winning campaign in Formula 4 United Arab Emirates in 2018. He also raced in ADAC F4 and Euroformula that year, and impressed to finish sixth in Spanish F3.
Last year he primarily competed in Formula Regional European Championship with his father’s US Racing team, and won four races on the way to fourth in the standings.
He also stood on the podium in the Asian F3 Winter Series, and at the end of the year stepped up to FIA F3 for two weekends (including the Macau Grand Prix) to prepare for racing this season with Charouz Racing System. Further preperation came via a trip to Bahrain for the MRF Challenge, in which he took a win and three other podiums in four races.
Schumacher’s team-mate for the virtual grand prix this weekend will be famous motorsport gamer Jimmy Broadbent.
Another famous name making his F1 debut is Enzo Fittipaldi, grandson of two-time F1 world champion Emerson, who will join Charles Leclerc at Ferrari. He also raced in FREC last year, and will make his step up to FIA F3 with HWA Racelab.
Other junior single-seater stars set to compete include Formula 2 racer Christian Lundgaard at Renault, where he will be joined by 2003 World Rally champion Petter Solberg, and Juan Manuel Correa and Alfa Romeo Racing. Fittipaldi’s older brother Pietro is expected to compete for Haas as part of his reserve driver duties.