Mick Schumacher says his title celebrations are on hold until Sunday as he wants to sign off on his successful Formula 3 season with a final victory.
The Prema Theodore driver won the title with a race to spare on Saturday at Hockenheim after a thrilling comeback which saw him claim five consecutive victories to overhaul long-time leader Daniel Ticktum, with the British driver struggling in recent races.
With Schumacher, son of seven-time Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher, taking second-place in the penultimate round of the season, it gave him enough of a buffer to Ticktum to ensure he can't be overhauled in the final race on Sunday.
However the 19-year-old isn't ready to let his hair down and pop the champagne corks yet, insisting he'll wait until Sunday so he can give it his all to sign off in style with a final win.
"Of course, I am really happy with my title win. I can hardly describe what a beautiful feeling it is to be doing something that you love really well.
"However, I also have a great team around me that is giving me the best conditions, enabling me to concentrate on what is important. I reckon that that is one of the keys to success. Moreover, we never gave up this season and have always tried to improve further. We never stopped working on ourselves.
"The championship party still has to wait, because there is another race to run tomorrow in which I want to give the maximum once more."
Gerhard Berger, chairman of DTM's parent company ITR e.V., believes this is just the tip of the iceberg for Schumacher who he believes will eventually follow in his father's famous footsteps.
"Of course, I am happy for Mick. He has prevailed and won the title early with a podium finish by his own means today. However, I am also very happy for Michael Schumacher and I wish that he will be back with us one day to watch Mick’s future career together with all of us.
"Mick doesn’t only look like his father, doesn’t only have the same posture and the same walk, he even has his father’s forearms as I noticed yesterday. But the decisive thing is: particularly in the past weeks, he has proven that he has his father’s racing driver genes.
"When he is able to keep on delivering this performance, his career path will bring him into Formula 1."
