Alonso: Schumacher has a great future

Fernando Alonso has predicted a positive future for Mick Schumacher having smiled at seeing his name alongside the German which brought back memories of battling his father for Formula 1 world titles over a decade ago.

The Alonso and Schumacher names were reunited in F1 at the Bahrain test with Mick making his Ferrari test debut while the Spaniard completed McLaren Pirelli tyre testing.

Alonso, who beat Michael Schumacher in two intensely competitive F1 world title battles in 2005 and 2006, was thrilled to see the iconic name return to the sport and feels the 20-year-old German came become a future star having kept an eye on his junior career.

“Obviously I didn’t meet him on-track, but it was nice to see on the screen this morning ‘M. Schumacher’ and ‘Alonso’, they were together at the beginning,” Alonso said. “If it was Michael or Mick, you’d never know if you saw the first moment.

“He has a great future, he did very well in the smaller categories. I think this year he’s quite important with F2, because there are some top drivers also in F2 with a lot of experience, so it’s not going to be an easy season.

“Hopefully we can see him succeed in there and hopefully in Formula 1 as well, it’s probably going to be good for the sport. The Schumacher family is always going to be something special in any Formula 1 car.”

Alonso, 37, says being on track with the son of a former rival didn’t make him feel old having already had the same experience against Max Verstappen.

“I have been already with Verstappen, I raced with Jos the Boss for two years, and then I was racing with Max for four,” he smiled. “That is something that is there. There are some older guys than me still, like Kimi.”