After two years at Haas, Mick Schumacher is currently spending his third year in Formula 1 on the Mercedes bench. According to Uncle Ralf Schumacher, things shouldn’t have gotten that far. He says: A team boss would have liked to give Mick a cockpit in the 2023 season. However, his superiors ultimately decided against the German.
After just a few races in the current Formula 1 season, the first driver has his back to the wall and fears for his job. This driver is AlphaTauri newcomer Nyck de Vries, who, according to consistent reports, is already heavily counted by those responsible for Red Bull. There was even talk of an ultimatum of three races recently.
AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost may have seen these problems coming early on, because as Ralf Schumacher revealed in the “formel1.de” interview, he actually wanted to hire another driver: Mick Schumacher. Unlike the Dutchman, Mick would have joined the team with two years of Formula 1 experience. De Vries, on the other hand, jumped in at the deep end – and regularly went under there in the first races of the season.
“Franz Tost would have liked a different driver. Because he knows that it takes two to three years. And the driver who was on the market was Mick. And Mick next to Tsunoda would have made sense,” explained Ralf Schumacher , who still maintains a good relationship with Tost.
According to Ralf Schumacher, Mick’s move to the Red Bull cosmos failed because of one person in particular. “Then came Helmut Marko, who for personal reasons or whatever, that [Mick Schumachers Verpflichtung] didn’t want to,” said today’s “Sky” expert, who claimed: “Helmut Marko seems to have a problem with the name Schumacher, although I have a good exchange with him. But he seems to have some problem with Mick. There’s no other way I can explain why it didn’t work out.”
Schumacher at Red Bull would have “given a lot of positive feedback”
A Schumacher at Red Bull would have had some advantages for the racing team in the eyes of the former racing driver. “One must not forget that Red Bull does not have the strongest market in Germany. If the group had kept a Schumacher in Formula 1, I think that would have given a lot of positive feedback,” explained Ralf Schumacher.
The fact that Nyck de Vries had some major problems in his first races does not come as a surprise to the “Sky” expert. Although the Dutchman was always “on the right track” in his career, he also always “needed a long time” to achieve success. Against this background, it was “surprising” that he was now being counted by those responsible, said Schumacher.
“Honestly, that’s not how you deal with a young driver. That’s not effective. The boy needs time. You know that beforehand,” criticized the ex-driver’s actions by those responsible for Red Bull, who, in Schumacher’s eyes, are responsible for themselves are responsible for the current situation in their B-Team.