Mick Schumacher will remain in Formula 1 in the coming year and will be a reserve driver for the Mercedes racing team. The factory team announced this on Thursday, making Schumacher a colleague of record world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. If one of the two regular English drivers fails, Schumacher will take over the helm of the Silver Arrow in 2023. The season starts on March 5th in Bahrain.
The German then also fills the reserve role for the Mercedes customer teams, but the collaboration with Ferrari ends: Schumacher is leaving the Scuderia driver academy, which is now also official.
Schumacher aims to return to the starting grid
After his unwanted exit from the Haas racing team, he remains part of the premier class. After a month-long stalemate, the small US team decided not to extend the contract with Schumacher until the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi in November. Nico Hülkenberg (35) will replace the 23-year-old for the coming season.
For Schumacher, the job at Mercedes is probably the best possible alternative to a regular cockpit. He gets to know one of the best cars in the field, Schumacher should benefit greatly from training sessions, simulator work and the highly professional environment in Brackley. With Haas, the smallest team, the car was not competitive in Schumacher’s debut year 2021 and was always to be found at the end of the field. In 2022 only a few midfield results were possible.
In the medium term and with a view to the 2024 season, Schumacher is aiming to return to the starting grid. Audi should also play a role here: the Ingolstadt-based company will provide a works team from 2026 and have already bought into the traditional Sauber racing team for this purpose. In the future, Audi expressly wants to start with a German driver.
