Mick Schumacher has made a fresh start in his racing career with his 2024 World Endurance Championship drive. Schumacher is driving in the Qatar 1812 km, the first round of the 2024 WEC season this weekend. However, despite his Endurance racing gig, the German driver has not overlooked his F1 ambitions. Especially after Lewis Hamilton’s surprising move away from Mercedes, Schumacher may look to capitalize on the cascading effect of the move in the drivers’ market.
As quoted by Junaid on Twitter (now X), Schumacher said, “Of course my focus at the moment is on the WEC. But I would be lying if I said that I don’t have Formula 1 in mind.”
The former Haas driver knows how many drivers are out of contract for 2025, so he believes, “Who knows what opportunities will open up to me in a few months? I’ll deal with it when the time comes”.
As part of his WEC debut, Mick Schumacher spoke to the media, and said: “Of course my focus at the moment is on the WEC. But I would be lying if I said that I don’t have Formula 1 in mind.”https://t.co/wBvTAwTp6l
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) March 2, 2024
Schumacher is currently competing in the Hypercar category of the WEC with Alpine. This is the French team’s debut in the top-tier category of WEC. Although this doesn’t affect Schumacher’s role as the Mercedes reserve driver, his focus will be much more on his WEC program.
Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for 2025 has made huge ripple effects in the driver market. As things stand, many drivers are in contention for the Briton’s vacant Mercedes seat.
Is Mick Schumacher a candidate for Toto Wolff and Mercedes?
Out of all the probable candidates, Mick Schumacher perhaps comes as an afterthought when many discuss who could replace Lewis Hamilton. Still, being the team’s reserve driver, the 24-year-old has some sort of chance to coerce his way back into F1 via Mercedes.
Team boss Toto Wolff has been under the limelight with questions posed to him about Hamilton’s replacement options. For now, Wolff is reportedly focusing on preparing the young and dynamic rookie of the Mercedes academy – Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Driving his debut F2 season, Antonelli will look to impress the Silver Arrows’s boss to earn a grand F1 debut in 2025. Besides the Italian prodigy, even Fernando Alonso has been touted as a major contender to replace the seven-time world champion. So, for now, Antonelli and Alonso seem the two hot prospects for Wolff and Mercedes.
However, besides these two and Schumacher, there are other drivers the Brackley team may look to approach. Carlos Sainz, whom Hamilton will replace at Ferrari, could become a straight swap option.
Even Alex Albon was in contention, but he has a contract with Williams till 2025. Regardless, with contracts typically being broken often, Albon also could get that promotion to Mercedes.
