Mick Schumacher will race in European Formula 3 next year as he continues his progress up the motorsport ladder.

The son of the seven-time champion finished runner-up in both the German and Italian Formula 4 series this year, taking 10 wins for the Prema Powerteam outfit. He will remain with Prema in Formula 3 next year and has already started his testing programme.

"F3 will be the ideal step for me to make, and I am totally fired up for the new year to start," Schumacher said. "I am 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!"

Prema secured the F3 title with new Williams driver Lance Stroll this year and team principal principal Angelo Rosin sees big things for Schumacher's career as well.

"We are thrilled to continue working with Mick in 2017," Rosin said. "Not only he is a skilled driver, he is a great guy and already showed he has all what 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."