The 5 strongest Father-Son Duos in Formula 1
This season the F2 Champion of 2020 Mick Schumacher made his debut in Formula 1. It is no secret that the world was a tad excited to see the return of a Schumacher to the tracks. Comparisons with his dad were inevitable and Mick Schumacher does not mind.
“I don’t mind being compared. In the end, he is the best, he will always be the best for me. That’s why I’m happy to be able to compare myself to him.” And Mick Schumacher is not the first son following in his father’s tracks. To date, there have been 17 father-son duos in premier racing. Among them are Graham and Damon Hill and the Rosberg family.
Find out here at Betsafe everything about the most successful father-son duos and the times the juniors outshone their fathers!
Here are the most successful father-son duos in premier class racing.
Like Father, Like Son… in Formula 1
Formula 1 has produced numerous strong father-son duos. Among the most successful to date are Graham & Damon Hill and Keke & Nico Rosberg with three World Championships between them.
Here are all the names of the father and son duos, where both have raced in Formula 1.
- Mario Andretti and Michael Andretti (USA)
- Antonio Ascari and Alberto Ascari (Italy)
- Jack Brabham and David Brabham and Gary Brabham (Australia)
- Wilson Fittipaldi and Christian Fittipaldi (Brazil)
- Graham Hill and Damon Hill (United Kingdom)
- Jan Magnussen and Kevin Magnussen (Denmark)
- Satoru Nakajima and Kazuki Nakajima (Japan)
- Jonathan Palmer and Jolyon Palmer (UK)
- Reg Parnell and Tim Parnell (United Kingdom)
- Andre Pilette and Teddy Pilette (Belgium)
- Nelson Piquet Sr. and Nelson Piquet Jr. (Brazil)
- Keke Rosberg und Nico Rosberg (Finnland/Germany)
- Hans Stuck and Hans-Joachim Stuck (Germany)
- Jos Verstappen and Max Verstappen (Netherlands)
- Gilles Villeneuve and Jacques Villeneuve (Canada)
- Manfred Winkelhock and Markus Winkelhock (Germany)
- Michael and Mick Schumacher (Germany)
Graham and Damon Hill
Three world championships, 36 wins and 291 races make this the most successful father-son duo in Formula 1. Graham Hill won two championships, young Damon one.
In F1 Graham competed in 176 Grand Prix between 1958 and 1975 and won the world championship twice. He is the only racing driver to win the so-called Triple Crown of Motorsport, an honorary title that includes victories at the Monaco Grand Prix of Formula 1, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indy 500.
Graham Hill’s only son Damon won the Formula 1 World Championship title in 1996. This means that the Hills became the first racing dynasty where both the father and son won the Formula 1 World Championship. Michael Schumacher’s long-time rival Damon Hill celebrated a total of 22 victories.
Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve:
Jacques Villeneuve is the only son to be crowned World Champion without a Champion dad. Father Gilles came close in 1979 but lost out by a margin in the internal Ferrari duel to the South African Jody Scheckter. Both won three races each, but the Canadian suffered one more setback in the end.
Gilles Villeneuve, the darling of Enzo Ferrari One was one of the most popular and spectacular Formula 1 drivers of his time, until he tragically lost his life at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix in Zolder. His son Jacques continued to compete in Formula 1 between 1996 and 2006 and managed to beat his eternal rival Michael Schumacher once to claim the World Championship in 1997.
Jos and Max Verstappen:
Jos Verstappen was promoted to Formula 1 in 1994 and raced in 107 Grand Prix until 2003. This makes him the Dutchman with the second most Formula 1 appearances after his son Max, who was brought into the team by Toro Rosso for the 2015 season at the tender age of 16.
Too young for a regular driver’s license, Max Verstappen applied for the Formula 1 Super License and quickly gathered the necessary points in his two-year-old Red Bull car. At the age of just 18, he became the youngest driver in F1 history to win a Grand Prix. In the picture below, he can be seen at the side of Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton equals a 14-year-old F1 record for Michael Schumacher with his victory at the Eifel GP 2020 at the Nürburgring. Mick Schumacher (not pictured) then presented Hamilton with a helmet from Father Michael Schumacher.
Michael and Mick Schumacher
“It’s just something special to see a driver named Schumacher in a Formula 1 car again,” said Formula E driver Maximilian Günther and we could not agree more! On March 28 Mick entered his first race in Bahrain for the American racing team Haas.
His father Michael Schumacher competed from 1991 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2012. He won the World Championship five times in a row from 2000 to 2004 and holds the record of 7 world championship titles in total.
Mick is currently a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and Mattia Binotto has given the “young Schumi” a contract until the end of 2022. Needless to say, Binotto expects Mick to improve his performance before he can qualify for a future Ferrari cockpit. But Mick Schumacher knows not to put too much pressure on himself in his rookie season. “A lot of people’s expectations need to be toned down a bit. We won’t be in the mix to win races next year, even if I’d like to,” said the F2 Champion of 2020, showing that in some ways he already measures up to his dad. He is just as down-to-earth.
