Formula 1: use as a substitute? Schumacher and Mercedes "just fit"

Schumacher and the Silver Arrows: This combination fires the imagination.

Formula 1: use as a substitute? Schumacher and Mercedes "just fit"

Schumacher and the Silver Arrows: This combination fires the imagination. Mercedes was the stimulus factor that once brought Formula 1 record world champion Michael Schumacher out of retirement. In his last three years in the motorsport premier class until his final farewell in São Paulo in 2012, the man from Kerpen helped the future world champion team to develop.

Michael Schumacher's son Mick could experience something similar for his own career at Mercedes.

Schumacher: "I want to teach everyone better"

After two years, the former Formula 2 champion was dumped by Haas. With the hiring of Aston Martin replacement driver Nico Hülkenberg, team manager Günther Steiner also announced that the Americans were turning their backs on Art Nouveau. "The experience of several years in Formula 1 and the fact that he was never with any other team than with us," was Steiner's answer to the question of what Schumacher was ultimately missing for a new contract.

These are two reasons that Haas knew from the start, but did not stop the racing team from delaying Mick Schumacher for months. The 23-year-old was not officially announced until the season finale in Abu Dhabi in mid-November. All the standard cockpits for 2023 were already distributed.

Schumacher's management has long considered all possible options. "I want to teach everyone who didn't believe in me, because I know exactly what I can do," said the 43-time Grand Prix starter combatively.

Mercedes would like to trust him - if only as a substitute driver behind the second record world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. "Mick is someone who has always been very close to our hearts, because of Michael and the whole Schumacher family," assured Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, recalling Mick's uncle Ralf, who once drove for Mercedes in the DTM, and his son David, who competed in the DTM with a Mercedes engine in the past season. Mick Schumacher is also an "intelligent, well-bred young man who was very successful in the junior formulas". External representation also plays an important role.

Mick Schumacher was "very flattered" by the flirt, which looks like a clear match. "Mercedes is a great brand and what they have achieved in Formula 1 is incredible," said the young driver. "Of course I'm looking at my options and Mercedes is part of that."

"Mick would suit the Silver Arrows"

Alpine is another way of bridging the coming season as a reserve driver before regular cockpits are offered again. But Mercedes is the more attractive address. Even if the Silver Arrows remain untitled this season after years of overwhelming dominance, Schumacher could learn from brilliant engineers and strategists. The input from exceptional driver Hamilton, Michael Schumacher's successor in the Silver Arrows in 2013, would be of little value to him. "Mick could really learn to work with a team like that," said uncle Ralf Schumacher.

Then there are the prospects of helping out at Grand Prix weekends. Schumacher would not only be the first choice if Hamilton or Russell were to fail. He would also come into play with customer teams such as Williams.

"We haven't really got our heads down yet, we haven't even come close to reaching an agreement," Wolff clarified in Abu Dhabi, but in the same breath reassured that Mick Schumacher would simply fit in with the Silver Arrows. Mercedes will lose the reserve drivers Nyck de Vries (regular driver Alpha Tauri) and Stoffel Vandoorne (reserve driver Aston Martin) for the coming season.

Mick Schumacher's connection to Ferrari is not a problem. "We are completely open to different possibilities, but we have to sit down with him and make a decision," said outgoing Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto in Abu Dhabi about the Scuderia youngster. So Ferrari is not an obstacle. Now all that's left to do is nail the nails with heads.

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