formula 1
Schumacher counts pilots: “Then it goes over quickly”
08.03.2025 – 3:13 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Before the start of the season of the “premier class”, the former Formula 1 pilot comments on the situation of a young driver-and is not very optimistic.
The former Formula 1 driver and today’s Sky expert Ralf Schumacher sees a wobbly candidate at a racing team before the start of the new season of the “premier class”: alpine driver Jack Doohan. “I know Flavio (team consultant Flavio Briatore, editor’s note) if the boy did not perform-and he was probably not so strong in the test, which you can hear-then it goes by pretty quickly,” said Schumacher in the Sky Podcast “Backstage pit lane”.
Even more: For Doohan, the time as a regular pilot for the French racing team can be over to Australia (the Formula 1 season start on March 16, editor’s note) “if he does not call up a convincing performance, says the 49-year-old.
The 22-year-old Australian Doohan only goes into his first season as a regular pilot. Explanate, however: Alpine had signed the Argentinian Franco Colapinto as a reserve driver – which is already considered a possible replacement.
Colapinto “already knows most of the routes, he brings a good sponsor with them, which is both interesting – and he also brings his speed with him,” says Schumacher. “However, he also has to find fully comprehensive insurance”-Colapinto had built numerous accidents last season where he drove for Williams.
At the same time, Schumacher also admitted that the young Doohan had the chance to defend his position and establish himself as a driver in Formula 1: “If he now comes to Melbourne and drives Pierre Gasly in the ground, then of course he can become a superstar.” But: “It doesn’t look like it at the moment.”