F1 Update: Mick Schumacher Told To Overcome Hype Around His Last Name

Former Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg believes Mick Schumacher will attract more media attention than even Lewis Hamilton.

Like Mick, who is the son of Formula One icon Michael Schumacher, Nico is also the son of a legendary driver – Keke Rosberg.

With Schumacher now looking to carve his own path in the sport his father once dominated, Nico thinks that given the hype of his last name, the 21-year-old would have to deal with an overwhelming amount of "media attention."

"It is not easy to be the ‘son of.’ And with Mick, it is again ten times more difficult because Michael’s days weren’t that long ago, and he was even more successful," Rosberg told F1 Insider of Mick. "The media attention will be great, initially probably even greater than that of Lewis Hamilton."

Rosberg also gave the younger Schumacher some advice.

"I hope that Mick can put that aside and concentrate well on his job – otherwise, it takes away a lot of the fun," he said.

"The media won’t give him time, but he’ll have to take it for himself," he pointed out. "It takes time and patience. After all, I had to wait seven years to win my first race and even eleven years to win the title. You have to keep that in mind if you want to rate Mick this year."

Schumacher is set for his F1 race debut for Haas at the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 28. Ahead of his highly-anticipated major debut, the German youngster said he is honored to carry his father’s name.

"I'm wanting to obviously do well, but also it's a big privilege for me to carry the surname Schumacher into Formula One again and obviously have it on my my car and be able to do my laps on track with it," Schumacher exclusively told CNN.

However, Schumacher also acknowledged the fact that people will surely be making comparisons between him and his dad.

"I guess we're [me and my dad] probably different in a few ways, but we're very similar in other ways," he explained. "It's very interesting to see how we how we do things on track.”

“For me, when I compare myself [to him], it is very much in his prime, the peak of his career when he was racing with Ferrari and having all those world championships,” the Haas driver emphasized. "But it's also very good for me to compare myself to him when he started in Formula One. We just have to be able to compare in both phases I'd say -- compare myself to the beginning, but also compared to the end of his career.”