Last year Mick Schumacher received praise from Helmut Marko. The youngster was rated by the Red Bull advisor as an upcoming talent, despite the German coming under fire from former team Haas for a lack of points.
Schumacher was sacked from his F1 drive with Haas at the end of the 2022 season. However, neither Red Bull nor AlphaTauri offered the 24-year-old driver a seat.
It appears that Marko’s flirting with Schumacher might have come to a close. Now, with the driver moving to Mercedes, it is unlikely that the youngster will be receiving a call-up from Red Bull anytime soon.
Mick Schumacher is not on Red Bull roster due to Mercedes ties
Recently, AlphaTauri driver Nyck De Vries’s F1 seat had come under pressure. The Dutchman has had a string of poor performances and has failed to score a single point in the 2023 season. Helmut Marko claims he is scrutinizing the situation closely.
The Austrian was asked if old interest Mick Schumacher will be considered by Red Bull’s sister team if De Vries gets ousted. Though his chances are pretty slim as he is the reserve driver for Red Bull’s arch-rivals Mercedes.
The Red Bull advisor told Motosport.com that the German racer is no more on his list. Marko commented, “He is a Mercedes driver and is not in our plans. So Toto Wolff is responsible for him.”
Marko also ruled out the possibility of Daniel Ricciardo filling in the vacant seat. He added, “Worst case scenario, we will return to our young talent pool. I’m talking specifically about Liam Lawson and Ayumu Iwasa. Ricciardo is not a topic of discussion at the moment.”
Helmut Marko gives clarity on De Vries’s situation
Recently rumors circulated that Helmut Marko had given an ultimatum to Nyck De Vries. The Dutchman needs to score points and improve his performance in the upcoming 3 races in Imola, Monaco, and Barcelona.
However, the Austrian has rubbished claims regarding the ultimatum. He shared, “Nothing will happen in the next three races. We talked to De Vries and he agrees with our assessment that he needs to improve.”
Marko does accept that compared to De Vries, his younger teammate Yuki Tsunoda put in better performances. However, there is still scope for the Dutchman to save his F1 drive.
Marko clarified, “In football terms, Nick has already received a yellow card but is yet to receive a red card. If he can improve, then the need for substitutions will go away on its own.”
De Vries, along with rookie Logan Sargeant, are the only two yet to score points this season. He has not made it past Q2 in the qualifying sessions so far. De Vries has also fallen prey to many mistakes, like crashing out of the 2023 Azerbaijan GP.
