Hopeful of a F1 promotion come 2021, Mick Schumacher believes spending next year in F2 with its new 18-inch tyres will give him a “head start” for F1.

Schumacher will remain in the Formula 2 series with Prema Racing for 2020 after missing out on a Alfa Romeo drive.

But while the German, son of seven-time F1 World Champion Michael, was disappointed, he sees the positives.

He told Motorsport.com: “Clearly if you get the opportunity [in F1], you take it, so the opportunity hasn’t been there. That’s pretty open and clear.

“But then the next decision was to stay in F2.

“For me [it was] the most intelligent and most reliable decision I could take and category I could drive in.

“F2 is going to have the new tyres next year [18-inch], which is going to be positive for me because that’s going to be for F1 in 2021.

“If then we manage to do the step, I would have a head start.

“Obviously it’s different but I think in a junior category it’s going to help me get more experience. Maybe also put me in a different position for next year.”

The 20-year-old managed just one victory in the 2019 F2 season, taking the chequered flag at the Hungarian sprint race.

That was his only podium result and he finished the campaign 12th in the standings.

“I think it’s been a very positive year in terms of pure performance,” Schumacher said. “It’s been a negative year in terms of reliability.

“I think we had a few races where the points and positions have been taken away from us, where else it could have been a very strong weekend and performance.

“Unfortunately the set-up of the F2 weekend is basically race one decides the place you will start for race two.

“Many of my problems were in race one, which meant the weekend was basically trashed away from there.

“It’s very unfortunate because I think we could have done very good weekends here and there which would have given me, in the end result, a lot of points, and put me in a different position in the championship.”

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