Schumacher surprised by early F3 podium

The son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher qualified and finished third in the second race of last weekend’s round at Monza, a result that has helped him into an early fifth place in the championship.

Schumacher’s qualifying session was boosted by a big tow from fellow Prema Powerteam driver Callum Ilott, which allowed him to set a lap time 0.657 seconds faster than his next best.

When asked whether he expected a podium in just his fifth F3 race, the 2016 German and Italian Formula 4 runner-up said: “No. We had a good qualifying, which is my weak point, so I’m happy that we could improve that.

“It shows that we have the speed to be in the top five and that we are improving, so if the trend is going that way then we can be happy.”

Schumacher ran second in the early stages of the race, before he was passed by Lando Norris at Lesmo.

“I saw him coming,” said Schumacher. "I knew the Volkswagen [Norris’s engine] was really quick, especially at Monza, which is a high-speed-straight track.

“He tapped me a bit at the first chicane, so it already put me in a difficult position, but I knew he was very quick so I didn’t fight much.

“I thought he could catch up to Joel [Eriksson, who won the race] and that if they fought I could take advantage of that.

“But it’s a good feeling – it’s a home track for the team and I’m really happy to be on the podium.”

Prema boss Rene Rosin said he was impressed not only with Schumacher’s podium, but also his drives in the other races – he went from ninth on the grid to sixth in race one, and from 12th to sixth in race three.

“He did a very good job, starting already from qualifying,” Rosin told Motorsport.com.

 “Then in the race he didn’t worry – when you get overtaken by someone you can lose your head and start making mistakes, but instead he was calm and brought home the car to a good result.

“Monza is proof that, with the good job everyone is doing at the moment, anything is possible – we are very happy with his weekend.”