Mick Schumacher has set his sights on replicating his father Michael's success in Formula One.

Schumacher junior moved a step closer to F1 last week after signing a deal with Prema Powerteam to race in the Formula Three European Championship next season.

The 17-year-old's move to F3 sees him follow in the footsteps of current F1 drivers Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and, more recently, Lance Stroll, who will race for Williams in 2017.

Despite the undoubted pressure on the young Schumacher given his father - who is continuing his recovery from serious head injuries sustained in a skiing accident in 2013 - dominated the sport for over a decade with Benetton and Ferrari, Mick has no doubts where he wants to end up.

"Even if there is a lot of attention on me, I want to race and that's the most important thing," he told Bild.

"I want to be an F1 world champion, like every driver.

"F3 is the next step for me and I can hardly wait. 2017 will certainly be a challenge, but the tests in the past few weeks have shown that the car is great fun to drive.

"This is the category that all the big names have come through. From the point of view of professionalism, it's a bit closer to F1 and a bit more difficult.

"[But] I will only know the moment [he is ready for F1] when it comes. I will do it in the way that I think is right."