The first practice session for the Eifel Grand Prix was canceled on Friday because of bad weather, which meant Michael Schumacher’s son Mick was unable to make his F1 race weekend debut with the Alfa Romeo team.
Low cloud and fog made for poor visibility around the Nurburgring track and it was declared unsafe for the medical helicopter to take off before time ran out for the 90-minute session. The helicopter is required under F1 safety rules and must be able to fly any casualties to the hospital at high speed.
Cold and wet weather is expected for all three days of the race weekend at the hilly, forested Nurburgring track in western Germany. Team staff wore large coats and wool hats along with their mandatory masks.
Formula Two standings leader Mick Schumacher was set to take part in the opening practice session for the first time, replacing Antonio Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo just for that session. Another F2 title challenger, British driver Callum Ilott, was with the Haas team for the session, assigned to Romain Grosjean’s car.
Both Schumacher and Ilott are part of Ferrari’s development programme and they were placed with teams which use Ferrari engines.
