Mick Schumacher could return to F1 with Alpine

Yesterday, Mick Schumacher and his teammates from the Alpine Endurance Team took part in the 6 Hours of Spa, but their car finished one lap behind the leader in 12th place, i.e. crew no. 36 again earned no points. By the way, the second team of the French team still made it into the top ten and took 9th place.

But for Mick this race can hardly be called successful, and the results of recent tests at Silverstone, in which the son of the seven-time world champion and 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli drove a Mercedes 2022 car, also raise questions. : does this epithet apply in this case?

Regarding these tests, it was said that the Mercedes team wanted to make a direct comparison between the two drivers, on the basis of which they would then estimate the chances of both taking the place of partner George Russell. According to Auto Bild, in reality no one compared the speed of Schumacher and Antonelli, because Mick was ordered to work on certain settings, for which he drove a car with heavy fuel, on which hard tires were mounted.

The Mercedes team has not reported the results of this work, but the German publication writes, based on sources, that Schumacher completed ten long series of laps, covering about 350 km, which exceeds the race distance. They say that the team’s engineers were quite satisfied with his work, which aimed to contribute to the team’s progress. That’s actually in Mika’s contact.

But there is a nuance: in fact, he helped find the optimal settings, so that Antonelli, who replaced him behind the wheel, then showed his speed in qualifying mode, i.e. the young Italian drove with minimal fuel load and on soft tires. However, what results he showed in fast laps is also not reported.

In the end everyone, including Mick, seemed happy with the work done, but can the tests at Silverstone be called ‘comparative’ if the drivers were working on completely different programmes? This indirectly indicates that Toto Wolff does not include Schumacher in the list of main candidates to fill the vacancy in the team that will open after the departure of Lewis Hamilton.

It’s easy to guess who tops this list: Max Verstappen, although of course it won’t be easy to lure him away from Red Bull. Also mentioned in the text of Auto Bild is Esteban Ocon, who was once part of the Mercedes youth program, and of course Kimi Antonelli, who has talent, but no experience yet, although this is a profitable business.

It is worth quoting a few lines from this text: “The problem with Schumacher at Mercedes is this: unlike Antonelli, George Russell and Ocon, Wolff is not involved in Mick’s career, therefore he has no personal interest in helping him. While every contract that Antonelli, Russell or Ocon concludes brings him a personal profit.

This was made possible thanks to special agreements between Wolff and Mercedes. If Norbert Haug, his legendary predecessor, was an employee of the company, then Wolff is the business partner. He owns a third of the Formula 1 team’s shares, with the remaining two-thirds controlled by billionaire Sir James Ratcliffe and Mercedes…”

However, the chance that Ocon will become Russell’s partner is small, but it cannot be ruled out that Esteban will spend the coming season with Williams. But since not only he, but also Pierre Gasly wants to leave the Renault factory team, it is quite possible in this situation that vacancies will arise at Alpine and that Mick will have the opportunity to return to Formula 1, because he is already doing well. known to the French company for its participation in the WEC.

Bruno Famen, head of Alpine Motorsports, is seriously considering Schumacher as a possible candidate for the Formula 1 team, and her immediate plans are to organize tests for Mick behind the wheel of a two-year-old car.