Mick Schumacher's F1 Dreams Fade as Alpine Eyes Others
Sep.23 - A Le Mans seat is "no replacement" for Formula 1, according to 2015 Le Mans winner Nico Hulkenberg.
Alpine confirmed at Suzuka that it is in talks with Mick Schumacher about a seat for the 24-year-old German in the Renault-owned camp's new prototype project in world endurance racing.
That is because Logan Sargeant, Felipe Drugovich and now perhaps Liam Lawson are all in the running for the final race seat on next year's F1 grid.
Schumacher is no longer in the running.
"I definitely believe that he would do a better job than Logan Sargeant," Mick's uncle Ralf Schumacher told Sport1 at Suzuka.
He says it's a shame that Schumacher, currently the Mercedes reserve driver, appears to be looking beyond F1 to keep his racing skills active.
"I think the circumstances under which Mick got into Formula 1 were extremely bad," Schumacher said. "Year one was with another rookie in a car that said Formula 1 on it, but it wasn't really a Formula 1 car."
Ralf says Mick was then "too weak" initially in year two at Haas, and also with a team "that wasn't necessarily behind him - especially the team boss".
He admits that young Schumacher is not likely to secure the vacant Williams ride.
"Felipe Drugovich is waiting with a lot of money," said Ralf.
In 2015, Hulkenberg accepted an offer from Porsche to contest the fabled Le Mans 24 hours in the top prototype category whilst also racing in F1 with .
The German won.
But as for Schumacher's situation, he says world endurance racing is not a "replacement" for F1.
"It's an alternative," Hulkenberg told Auto Motor und Sport. "But there is no replacement for F1.
"The WEC is a great series, but of course it is one step behind Formula 1 in terms of importance."
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People still think Sargeant would get replaced even though Williams clearly have a low incentive to sack him hastily.
Just because they haven't announced him yet doesn't mean he'd get sacked.
As for Lawson, he most certainly wouldn't replace him in any case & has already been confirmed as a reserve driver while thinking about Drugovich is pointless mainly because if Williams truly wanted him, they would've offered him a drive for this season after his F2 championship instead of prioritizing Sargeant, so unrealistic to think they'd suddenly be interested in him about a year later after almost a full year without active racing.
Hasn't hurt Piastri not racing for a yr has it?, they also didn't know Sargeant wouldn't be as good as they thought...!!, basically , they are giving him enough rope , it makes the decision easy, or if he stops crashing the car and matches Albon , then fair enough, added to that there are some wise older people that believe Mick should get that drive,AND yes with him not having a years active racing, and finally the lure of (whether its needed or not ) 15M sponsorship money for the money men at Dorilton to hard to turn down
Just a few thoughts while I gloat about Maxes exceptional performances yesterday and today, Sakura engine designers are on a bonus
I want to agree about MSC, but I'm afraid that LAW now being in the mix, Mick's days in F1 are numbered. I'm still holding out for a Williams seat, but hope is eternal and often not fulfilled.. :)
Spot on about VER. Biggest time diff in quali at Japan since the MSC senior days. Post race, Lewie seemed to think that being bog slow was entertaining.