F3: Mick Schumacher to race in Euro F3 with Prema

Mick Schumacher will step up to the Formula 3 European Championship with Prema Powerteam next season.

The 17-year-old son of seven-time world champion Michael confirmed his plans after spending several weeks testing with Prema, the same team with which he finished runner-up in this year's German and Italian F4 championships.

"We are thrilled to continue working with Mick in 2017," sayd Prema team principal Angelo Rosin.

"Not only is he a skilled driver, he is a great guy and already shown he has all it takes to be a top all-round professional.

"Debuting in a challenging series like the FIA F3 European Championship is not going to be easy, but we will be 100 percent behind Mick to help him keep impressing as he did this year."

Schumacher said that he feels ready for the move up the ladder.

"F3 will be the ideal step for me to make, and I'm totally fired up for the new year to start," he said. "I'm also really happy about staying with Prema, because this is such a professional team and I will again be able to learn a lot.

"The next season will surely be challenging, but the tests we've been doing in the past weeks proved the F3 car is extremely fun to drive. I can't wait for 2017 to begin."