Mick Schumacher lost his Haas seat in 2023, owing to team boss Guenther Steiner replacing him with Nico Hulkenberg. Now, Schumacher has a chance to make a comeback in the premier class of motorsport, that too as Hulkenberg’s teammate. That opportunity could arise for the 2025 season when Hulkenberg moves base to Sauber. Schumacher, on the other hand, has the ‘bottle cork,’ a phrase he used for Carlos Sainz, out of the way.
The 25-year-old, however, knows that the move might take a while. Speaking with Divebomb, he said, “A lot of teams don’t have the pressure to make a decision right now, which leaves me a bit in suspense as well. However, F1 will always be the priority in everything I do, so until it’s completely closed for me, I’ll wait for it and focus on that.”
He does not, however, rule out the possibility of the teams finalizing their driver lineups earlier than expected. That is because Sainz has finally made a decision to join Williams in 2025.
Most teams, including Sauber, soon to be rebranded as Audi, were chasing the Spaniard. His final decision held up the movement of other drivers as well, which should now open up.
Mick Schumacher è intenzionato a tornare in Formula 1 già nel 2025: l’unica via percorribile sembra però essere la Kick Sauber
— FormulaPassion.it (@FormulaPassion) August 18, 2024
In his time away from F1, Schumacher is keeping his racing nerves up by competing in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Alpine, who fielded a team for the first time in the championship’s hypercar category, roped Schumacher into their team.
Resultantly, the German has the experience of 24 Hours of Le Mans under his belt. Unfortunately, that run only lasted six hours owing to engine failure.
Schumacher himself believes there are still three to four teams looking for a driver to complete their 2025 lineup. Realistically speaking, Sauber seems to be his only choice as even Alpine seems to be tilting towards Jack Doohan.
Is Mercedes really an option for Schumacher?
Owing to his proximity to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, Schumacher looked to be a likely replacement for Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton. That was until Kimi Antonelli came into the picture and Wolff confirmed his contention. The Austrian manager, however, cleared that he won’t rush into any decision and weigh his options until arriving at a conclusion.
Experts, however, have ruled out every driver for the move and believe it is only a matter of time before Mercedes announce Antonelli as their newest addition to the team. There are also reports suggesting Wolff holding regret over missing out on signing Max Verstappen during his younger years.
That regret may have triggered the Mercedes boss to cling to Antonelli despite having the option of signing Sainz. Others suggest there is still a waiting game going on where Wolff is expecting to sign Verstappen himself amid the ongoing exodus of key figures at Red Bull.
While the Dutchman has time and again clarified that he intends on serving the full duration of his contract with his incumbent team, Wolff is counting on the internal turmoil at Red Bull to push Verstappen into signing a contract with Mercedes.
