As Mick Schumacher prepares for his European F3 Championship debut, Jean Todt calls on media not to pressurise the youngster.

In many ways, Formula One is unique in the way in which youngsters often follow their fathers, and grandfathers, into the sport.

However, be your name Villeneuve, Hill, Prost, Rosberg or Piquet, the pressure is immense, especially from a media seeking that fairytale ending.

For young Mick Schumacher, the pressure is so great that when starting out he raced under his mother's maiden name, finally switching to the legendary family name when he broke into F4 in 2014.

The pressure of being the son of one of the sport's greatest ever participants, a seven-time world champion, is hard enough, but with his father still battling the injuries sustained in his 2013 skiing accident the media's search for a fairytale is relentless.

In the same way that the Schumacher family has sought to keep Michael's condition out of the media spotlight, so too it has urged the press not to put undue pressure on his son, a call reiterated by Jean Todt.

"Mick's a wonderful boy," Todt told the German new agency SID at the inaugural Keep Fighting Award, which was established by the Schumacher family to honour those who inspire others by means of an exemplary attitude and personal excellence. "I can only ask everyone: do not put the boy under so much pressure."

Having finished runner-up in both the German and Italian F4 championships last year, Schumacher steps up to the FIA European F3 series in 2017. He remains with Italian outfit Prema, which has close ties with Ferrari, the team with which his father won five of his titles, but has also been courted by Mercedes for its young driver programme.

Speaking earlier this month, Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) boss Massimo Rivola told Gazzetta dello Sport that the Italian team would "find a red carpet" if Schumacher "would like to enter the FDA programme".

So no pressure there then.

Indeed, in a further little twist, at the weekend the youngster was competing in the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship at the Buddh International Circuit in India, beating Harrison Newey... son of a certain Red Bull design guru.

"Mick is going to go on his way," said Todt, who headed the Ferrari team during the Schumacher era. "He loves racing and he has already shown what he can do in Formula 4. He should be left alone to continue developing."