AlphaTauri boss says 'political reasons' are behind Schumacher rejection
Jun.12 - Franz Tost admits "political reasons" were behind Mick Schumacher's failed candidature to race for AlphaTauri in 2023.
Haas refugee Schumacher, 24, kept his Formula 1 dream alive for this year with a Mercedes reserve seat, but AlphaTauri boss Tost admits he wanted Mick to replace the departing Pierre Gasly.
"Until Monza it was completely unclear who would be our next driver," Tost, who will hand over his role to Laurent Mekies for 2024, told formel1.de.
"And then, logically, I thought of Mick Schumacher," said the Austrian, who has close historical ties with Mick's uncle Ralf Schumacher.
"It was clear that Schumacher did not have a seat for 2023, so when I saw that we would have a spot available, I wanted to have him," Tost added.
"It was quite a chaotic situation at the time because we had already committed to continuing with our drivers from 2022 but then suddenly Gasly was transferred to Alpine.
"I really argued for Schumacher then," he said.
But he admits that his proposal was "rejected" when it reached the desk of Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko - with "political reasons" also in the mix.
"We're driving with Nyck de Vries now and there's actually nothing more to discuss," he said.
As for the Tost-Schumacher link, Marko said AlphaTauri is a team for Red Bull's junior drivers and not "for personal reasons".
However, Tost says German Schumacher is "much better than he is currently perceived by the outside world".
But also good, the AlphaTauri boss insists, is Dutchman de Vries.
"He's a good driver too," said Tost. "He is now our driver and then the discussion is over."
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Its all i could find really , Pirelli tyre test with 2024 tyres Barcelona
Four drivers took part: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and George Russell (Mercedes) on Tuesday while Carlos Sainz took over for Ferrari yesterday and Mick Schumacher made his Mercedes debut.
A total of 617 laps were completed: 167 for Leclerc, 152 for Schumacher, 151 for Russell and 147 for Sainz. The test focused on the development of the 2024 tire compounds and took place entirely without the use of pre-heaters.
The best times of each day were 1:16.638 for Sainz, 1:18.197 for Leclerc, 1:18.400 for Russell and 1:18.974 for Schumacher.
Schumacher didn't even crash the W14?
The fastest lap time last week was a 1:16.330, so Schumacher was propably told to not go below 1:19?
It’s hard to crash something thats growing that slow to start with. Besides I’m led to believe that the engineers wrapped the car up in pool noodles and installed airbags on the track walls.
As far as i can see Merc have made very little if not any pr over this test with there No 1 driver and reserve driver wtfs going on with the pr merc machine?