Mick Schumacher was recently subjected to trolls on the internet after he was spotted with a strange ally at Portimao during his testing session with McLaren. The Mercedes reserve driver found Mahaveer Raghunathan when he was in Portugal for testing with the British F1 team, and according to the F1 fans, it was no less than a punch in his confidence.
Schumacher was able to take part in the test because of his reserve role at Mercedes. Despite being a part of the Silver Arrows, the German driver got the chance to drive a papaya car due to F1’s TPC rules. In this rule, a reserve driver can test the two-year-old machinery of the teams, and because of McLaren being a customer team of Mercedes’, they were able to accommodate Schumacher in the test.
Mercedes supplies engines to McLaren. This led to them coming to an agreement where Schumacher would get to test the MCL35M. Pictures of Schumacher behind the wheel of the car, suited up for McLaren became viral all over social media.
However, for fans, it was a different day of shock as the former F1 driver had to share the day with Raghunathan, who last took part in an F1 test in 2021 for Alfa Romeo. He raced in Formula 2 for MP Motorsport that year and finished the season in P20.
Fans troll Mick Schumacher’s McLaren test day
After Mahaveer Raghunathan posted about his test with McLaren, fans on the internet connected the dots to Schumacher’s own outing and started roasting the latter. Given below are some of the reactions taken from Reddit:
@Manuag_86 believes it was a hard punch on Schumacher’s confidence
Comment
by u/Manuag_86 from discussion [Feeder Series] EXCLUSIVE NEWS | Mahaveer Raghunathan tested a McLaren F1 car at Portimao, the driver told Feeder Series! He drove the car on Tuesday on Thursday for a distance of 750km.
in formula1
@ominous77 believes this was nothing but a joke.
Comment
by u/Ominous77 from discussion [Feeder Series] EXCLUSIVE NEWS | Mahaveer Raghunathan tested a McLaren F1 car at Portimao, the driver told Feeder Series! He drove the car on Tuesday on Thursday for a distance of 750km.
in formula1
Apart from them, there were numerous other comments that showed fans being surprised at the unlikely crossover between Schumacher and the Indian driver. Despite the comparison and trolls, the McLaren test has surely given Schumacher some much needed time behind the wheel of an F1 car. It could possibly pave a way back for him into the world of F1.
Mercedes, Mick Schumacher and F1 chances
After Haas parted ways with Schumacher after 2022, Mercedes came to his rescue by offering him a reserve role at the team. With that, the German giants have also been eyeing an opportunity to put the 24-year-old back in an F1 seat. Toto Wolff, team principal of the Silver Arrows has shown his support for Schumacher very often. He truly believes that Mercedes can provide him with the perfect opportunity to get his career back on track.
It’s #BritishGP weekend & Mick Schumacher is in da house as our reserve driver!!! pic.twitter.com/LyVLaRKXW4
— McLaren Family (@McLarenFamily) July 6, 2023
“You can see his junior career track record was very good and I believe that if we can give him a safe environment to further develop, he can be a good racing driver in a permanent seat in the future,” Wolff said as per Sky Sports on Schumacher.
As things stand, the German driver doesn’t have a seat for the 2024 season yet. Whether he chooses to stay on as Mercedes’ reserve driver or moves away from F1 to take part in any other racing venture is yet to be seen.
