MOTORSPORT: Ferrari anoints young Schumacher

Michael Schumacher's teenage son Mick's Formula 1 future looks set to be with Ferrari rather than Mercedes.

The Italian stable of the prancing horse with which Schumacher senior won the last five of his seven world championships has confirmed that it has added his 19-year-old son to its driver academy.

Set to race in Formula 2 this season with the same Italian-based Prema Powerteam, the reigning European Formula 3 champion could get to test an F1 car this year – either for Ferrari or one of its customer teams, American-owned Haas or Swiss-based Sauber.

Schumacher already has a 'super licence' that makes him eligible for F1.

Mercedes, with which Schumacher senior made a three-year comeback (2010-2012) after having retired from Ferrari in 2006, has also been in the running for the 'new Schu', but the red of Maranello has proven to be gold ahead of the silver of Stuttgart.

"I am thrilled that Ferrari has entered a partnership with me and my next future in motorsport will be in red, being part of the Ferrari Driver Academy and also of the Scuderia Ferrari family," said Schumacher junior, who will turn 20 on March 22.

"This is another step forward in the right direction and I can only profit from the immense amount of expertise bundled there. I will make everything to extract whatever helps me achieve my dream, racing in F1.

"Ferrari has a big place in my heart since I was born and also in the hearts of our family, so I am delighted about this opportunity."

Ferrari's new team principal Mattia Binotto, an engineer with F1's most successful squad when Michael won five straight titles in 2000-2004 and who has known the youngster since birth, said: "Welcoming Mick into Ferrari has a special emotional meaning, but we have chosen him for his talent and the human and professional qualities that have already distinguished him despite his young age."

Beaten to the 2016 German Formula 4 Championship by Australian Joey Mawson, Schumacher won eight races on the way to the Euro F3 crown last season.

He was with his father on a French ski field in late 2013 when Michael suffered the severe head injuries which have kept him out of public view since.

The seven-driver Ferrari academy includes Giuliano Alesi, also 19 and son of another Ferrari driver Jean Alesi; Enzo Fittipaldi, 17, grandson of Brazilian dual world champion Emerson Fittipaldi; and New Zealander Marcus Armstrong, 18, equal leader of this summer's Toyota Racing Series across the Tasman.

Charles Leclerc, the 21-year-old from Monaco who will be four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel's teammate at Ferrari this year, and Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, set for his first full season with Sauber, are graduates of the academy.

Schumacher could find himself in line to replace Vettel if the older German, who turns 32 this year, cannot help the scuderia end Merc's F1 dominance in the next couple of years.

The man who was to have headed Renault Sport Racing this year, Thierry Koskas, is out already.

Instead, 64-year old Jerome Stoll, who had been planning to retire, will continue as president of the team Australia's Daniel Ricciardo has joined.

Koskas was to have reported to Carlos Ghosn, the Renault and Nissan chief detained in Japan late last year for alleged financial misconduct. While stripped of his Nissan position, Ghosn remains head of Renault, while Cyril Abiteboul remains team principal of the French manufacturer's F1 squad.

No reason has been given for the sudden exit of Koskas, who had been Renault's vice-president of sales and marketing.

Little-known Mexican rally driver Benito Guerra has won the Race of Champions against 19 stars of international motorsport.

Guerra, 33, first defeated Sebastian Vettel in the first round of individual competition, and then Pierre Gasly – Daniel Ricciardo's replacement at Red Bull Racing – on the way to the final against a Le Mans winner, Frenchman Loic Duval. Guerra won the best-of-three final with a result of 2-0 in the Foro Sol stadium section of Mexico City's F1 circuit.

Team Nordic – comprising the most successful driver in Le Mans history, Denmark's Tom Kristensen, and Sweden's dual rallycross world champion Johan Kristoffersson – defeated Team Germany's Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher in the previous day's ROC Nations Cup.

Like Guerra, Schumacher defeated Vettel in the individual competition, but he was eliminated in the quarter-finals by ex-F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez – one of three Mexicans to make the semi-finals (the other was last year's Indy Lights champion, Patricio O'Ward).

Gutierrez ousted Schumacher but was then beaten by Guerra, the 2012 Production World Rally Champion whose surname means 'war' and who said of his ROC success: "I had to face many great drivers, not least three F1 drivers."

Competitors raced a mix of several types of equal machinery, including Stadium Super Trucks.

Australian Matthew Brabham, 24, won the separate Stadium Super Trucks round that was a support act to the ROC, clinching the series title which he hopes will help him secure fresh road racing opportunities after junior open-wheeler titles in the US and a start in the Indianapolis 500.

The World Rally Championship begins on Thursday with the shortest Monte Carlo Rally of recent times – and the start located in Gap, the home town of six-time world champion Sebastien Ogier, rather than the glamour principality.

There are 11 World Rally Cars among the 84 entries, with Ogier back at Citroen after four world titles with Volkswagen and two with M-Sport Ford, and the even greater Frenchman Sebastien Loeb making his first start for Hyundai. Loeb has had just one day's testing after his third place last week in the marathon Dakar Rally in Peru, driving a privateer Peugeot.

Nine-time world champion Loeb is making his 173rd WRC event start, while Toyota's Finnish driver, Jari-Matti Latvala, is making his 196th start to equal Carlos Sainz' starts. Northern Irishman Kris Meeke has joined Toyota at 38 but has a history of not finishing rallies 35 per cent of the time, compared to the 10 per cent of Ogier, who could equal Loeb's seven wins at The Monte.

Picture courtesy of 5W/Wikimedia Commons