Schumacher and Vettel Compete for Top Spot in Audi's F1 Future
Aug.15 - Two Germans are reportedly near the top of team owner Audi's list to join Nico Hulkenberg next year at Sauber.
The Sun newspaper in Britain believes Mick Schumacher is being seriously considered for the role, while Dr Helmut Marko told Osterreich newspaper this week that retired quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel is still pushing for a return to Formula 1.
"Vettel harmonised perfectly with Jonathan Wheatley (at Red Bull) in the past," the newspaper explained, "and he also knows Mattia Binotto from his time at Ferrari."
Another obvious candidate is Sauber incumbent Valtteri Bottas, who is currently in California - and he posted a photo of himself alongside an Audi R8 emblazoned with his race number 77.
Earlier, the Finn said he hoped Binotto's arrival as boss might change the course of his 2025 contract talks.
"It is going to reset the talks a bit, because we have previously been in communication with Andreas (Seidl) and Oliver (Hoffmann) and now it's Mattia," said Bottas. "So yeah, for sure that will change some things, so we need to speak."
Fellow Finn and former F1 driver Mika Salo also thinks Bottas is still in with a chance of retaining his seat, having been a part of the transition from Sauber to Audi so far.
"When I moved to Toyota, nothing already existed," Salo told Iltalehti newspaper. "It wasn't easy, and then I got fired in the middle of it all. I hope Valtteri will be able to reap the benefits.
"Alpine is still being speculated, but I don't really see any point in moving there," Salo added. "It would be better if he could continue where he is already.
"I saw him in Hungary, but I didn't bother to ask him about this, because I knew he wouldn't tell me anything anyway," the former Sauber driver laughed.
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Nothing but arbitrary assumptions by third parties, so zero foundation in these claims.
Mick may be on the shortlist, but only as a last-resort choice at best, & Seb once again isn't 'pushing' for a return as he stopped with a clear intention & while he's said 'never say never' on occasions, he's made clear he isn't intending to return.
For the time being, I'm positive Bottas eventually stays put, mainly for factors other than the Audi R8 image reference.
Msc came back, Kimi came back, Alonso came back .
Different drivers, so irrelevant.
Besides, Kimi never retired in the first place, so return was always a possibility, while Alonso never truly ruled out a return despite initially intending to retire.
However, Seb's intention was clear like with Nico Rosberg, so nothing will happen as long as he doesn't say he definitely wants or intents the return.
All I said was they left "F1" and came back,I never mentioned retirement .
True, but I also wanted to be more precise with what I meant.
History tells us that highly successful drivers who made an F1 comeback were unable to replicate their past successes. In Vettel's situation, he was adamant that he was retiring because he wanted to spend more time with his young family and he didn't want to spend so much time away from them with the additional events that have become the new F1 calendar.
Being a new team developing a new car, Audi will need highly experienced drivers to provide good feedback for their first few seasons, so they can make good progress. I don't believe they can get that type of feedback from Mick, as he doesn't have the background experience yet. Probably Bottas would be their best option for the first 2 years.
Bottas should be a no-brainer choice for the second 2025 full-time drive.
There are a few articles out there with the Doc , reportedly saying SV begged more than a few times to get presumably Checos seat, Lies or Truth, So who knows..!
Yes, but I'm still reserved when something is based on what the Doc says in the media.
It's called propaganda!