The Austrian Grand Prix will be held next weekend and this is an opportunity to remember that one year ago it was at this circuit that Mick Schumacher drove the best race of his career. At the time at Spielberg, with a Haas, Mick finished sixth, ahead of much more experienced riders from stronger teams.
However, this did not help him to stay in Formula 1 and this season he serves as a reserve driver for Mercedes, but what awaits him in the near future? Will he be able to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car again, not through tire testing, but by securing a place in the first team of one of the championship teams?
According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, Williams is considering replacing Logan Sargent with him, as the American debutant has no justified hopes yet and loses too much to Alex Albon, his more experienced partner. In addition, the British team’s cars are powered by Mercedes engines, and this may also play a role.
However, Sauber Motorsport is even more interested in Mick, and that makes sense, because the Swiss company has entered into a strategic alliance with Audi and in 2026 the factory team of the premium car manufacturer from Ingolstadt will debut in Formula 1.
In this case, of course, we can no longer talk about the work of a third driver or a racer fine-tuning equipment on a simulator (while Audi has entrusted this to the 39-year-old Swiss Neil Jani), but about the contract of a prize flyer.
According to Blick’s lyricist, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou are still difficult to judge. In Barcelona, the Chinese rider earned a few points, but in Canada he finished far from the top ten, but the Finn managed to get at least one point there. Both clearly lack stability, and this is an alarming symptom.
Theo Purscher, a 19-year-old Frenchman assigned to the team from Hinvil as reserve driver, speaking in Formula 2, is also not stable, although he takes second place in the individual classification.
Audi people are rumored to be already actively exploring the paddock, collecting the opinions of representatives from different teams about the son of the seven-time world champion. If Mick ends up in the ranks of a future factory team, his last name alone will get her more attention.
But it is clear that Andreas Seidl, the CEO of Sauber, is not only interested in this, but also in the ability of the 24-year-old German to show good results, and not everyone is sure about this, and skeptical opinions about this sound also. But Seidl is an experienced manager, well versed in both human qualities and racing, and after weighing everything up, he will make the decision he sees fit.
Once, about 17-18 years ago, there was talk in Formula 1 that if you can imagine a kind of “dream team” Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher should play for it. Given that the Spaniard is already being matched with the future Audi factory team, it probably shouldn’t be ruled out that Schumacher Jr. is invited as his partner.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
