Callum Ilott expects to be on equal footing with teammate Mick Schumacher within the team. A superstar name has attracted Schumacher a lot of attention, but Ilott expects there to be no difference between the two of them within the team.
Both drivers will compete with Prema Powerteam next season, who have taken the European Formula 3 title for the past five years, and are favourites to produce the next champion.
“Media wise, [Schumacher] gets a lot of promotion but in the team there’s no difference,” Ilott told Read Motorsport at the 2017 Autosport International Show in Birmingham.
“Ok, he’s a rookie driver, so there are some things that they’ll push him a little bit more on but nothing different to what I would expect.”
Over the past two years, Ilott has struggled to find a balance in strength with his teammates. In his rookie year, he finished the championship 12th whilst teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished second. But last year, he was far stronger than his teammates.
With Prema set to present another strong line up this season, he hopes his teammates will push him to take the European F3 title in his third year of trying.
“I had 2015 with Antonio: a really strong teammate. I was always trying to chase him and he was always pulling away,” Ilott explained.
“And then last year with Van Amersfoort, I’ve been the one setting the pace and the others trying to chase it. Both have strong points and but I think it’s always good to have a teammate that pushes you, but you’ve also got to have the edge over the teammate. Hopefully this year will be the one where I have the strong teammate, but I have the edge over them.”
Prema have already announced three of their drivers for 2017, and are expected to announce a fourth soon.
