Mick Schumacher was one of the contenders to take up Logan Sargeant’s place at Williams after the Dutch GP. However, James Vowles overlooked the German driver in favor of their Academy driver, Franco Colapinto. That said, Schumacher is still in with a shot for a 2025 seat according to former AlphaTauri (now VCARB) boss, Franz Tost.
Tost believes that Schumacher is worthy of a seat in F1 and could be an ideal candidate for the vacant Audi (currently Sauber) seat alongside Nico Hulkenberg. The Austrian referenced the 25-year-old’s exploits in the junior formulas — he won the F3 title in 2018 and the F2 title in 2020 — along with his performances in F1 with Haas during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
The former Red Bull sister team boss was quoted on X (formerly Twitter) as saying, “I think that Mick has the potential to drive successfully in Formula 1. But of course you have to be given the opportunity to do so. Now we will see what decision Audi makes. But I would say that Mick would have deserved a place in Formula 1 and also at Audi.”
https://t.co/wBvTAwTp6l [Ticker]-Talking about the second seat at Audi, Franz Tost told Sky that Schumacher would have deserved the place “because he has shown very good performance in the past. He won the F3 championship, he won the F2 championship, he won many races there.”
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— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) September 2, 2024
Schumacher made a relatively solid debut in F1 during the 2021 season. He did, however, finish with zero points to his name. 2022 was a more difficult test for the German driver, and poor performances along with massive crashes led to his sacking at the end of the season.
Since then, he’s been Mercedes’ reserve driver and competes in the World Endurance Championship with Alpine. A decision at Audi is yet to be made and it seems as though Mattia Binotto is in favor of a younger driver to partner Hulkenberg. But Schumacher is not the driver the Audi COO is looking at.
Audi target Theo Pourchaire despite Schumacher’s availability
The latest rumblings in the paddock suggest that Audi are looking to sign 2023 F2 champion, Theo Pourchaire to complete their line-up for 2025 and beyond. The Frenchman seems to have caught Binotto’s attention who thinks the 21-year-old has the potential to thrive in F1.
| NEW: Theo Pourchaire is being considered for a 2025 Sauber deal.
Mattia Binotto believes he has potential. See below:https://t.co/KboFwPvvZB
— formularacers (@formularacers_) September 1, 2024
Pourchaire — who is a Sauber Academy driver — and the team’s reserve driver too has had a pretty compelling junior career winning the F2 title last year. He also finished runners-up in F2 (2022) and F3 (2020).
This season, he has raced in IndyCar and Super Formula. However, the IndyCar opportunity did not end well for the Frenchman. The Arrows McLaren team abruptly dismissed him despite signing a full-time deal for this season and beyond.
Pourchaire would be counting on Sauber to sign him to kickstart his F1 career in 2025, after sitting on the sidelines for a season and experiencing a rough end to his IndyCar stint.
