Mick Schumacher found his way into F1 in 2021 with Haas after winning the 2020 F2 Championship. After an uneventful first campaign and an underwhelming second season, Haas decided to part ways with Schumacher. As team principal Guenther Steiner said on several occasions, the German driver’s habit of making mistakes due to lack of experience, was hurting them.
Schumacher headed into the 2023 season without an F1 seat. Toto Wolff and Mercedes, however, capitalized on the opportunity to sign Schumacher as a reserve driver. While he will be spending the majority of the year away from the limelight, Wolff is adamant to get him some valuable time behind the wheel of an F1 car too.
In an interview with Blick, Wolff insisted that if either Lewis Hamilton or George Russell gets injured or infected with Covid, it will be Schumacher who will replace them. Wolff and Mercedes won’t look elsewhere and will turn to their reserve driver to fulfill all the required duties. On top of that, the Austrian is also trying to get Schumacher into one of the older Mercedes cars, as part of their testing programs.
“If one of our drivers gets Covid or gets injured. Mick will be in the Mercedes,” the 51-year-old said. “Period, end of discussion!”
Toto Wolff slams Steiner’s treatment of Mick Schumacher
Earlier this year, Schumacher’s uncle Ralf, made a claim that if his nephew’s legendary father Michael was around, Steiner would treat him very differently. The entire Schumacher family has been very vocal of Steiner treating the 24-year-old harshly, and Wolff has joined in on that.
According to the Mercedes boss, Michael Schumacher being around in the Haas garage would have drawn in completely different reactions from Steiner. The Italian would not openly criticize or disrespect Schumacher as much as he did.
“I claim that if Michael had accompanied his son during the two Haas years, Steiner would not have dared to treat Mick like that!”
Wolff looking out for Schumacher
In 2013, Schumacher’s father Michael suffered a skiing accident, which critically wounded him. Since then, he has been away from the public with very few people knowing about his actual condition. As a result, the seven-time world champion has not been around to witness his son’s growth in racing.
Figures like Sebastian Vettel, however, have done their best to mentor him throughout his growing years. Now that Vettel is retired and not in the paddock anymore, it is Toto Wolff who is looking after him.
“I’m looking out for the little one,” said Wolff. “I can only say that his parents did nothing wrong in bringing him up.”
