Mercedes open to hiring Schumacher as Ferrari ‘do not have a seat for him’

2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says his team can “look after” Mick Schumacher if he wants a place within Mercedes.

Schumacher has raced the last two seasons with Haas but Nico Hulkenberg’s arrival at the team next year will leave him without a race seat for 2023. There is one vacancy left on the grid for next year, at Williams, but that will go to Logan Sargeant unless he fails to score enough FIA superlicence points.

Wolff says Schumacher, son of former Mercedes driver and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, would be welcome to join Mercedes if he wanted to. The team is in need of a reserve driver for 2023.

“Mick is someone that has always been close to our heart because of Michael, or the whole Schumacher family,” said Wolff. “Ralf was in the DTM for a long time for us, his son races Mercedes in GTs.

“He’s an intelligent, well-mannered young man. He’s been very successful in junior formulas. We believe that we can look after him if the situation were to happen.”

Talks with Schumacher are at an early stage, Wolff stressed. “We haven’t really put pen to paper. We haven’t really come anywhere close to any terms.

“I’m saying it that openly because I think he just fits and now we need to make it happen – if he wants to, if Sabine [Kehm, Schumacher’s representative] wants to and we see where it goes to.”

Schumacher remains a member of Ferrari’s Driver Academy. Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says the team will have a discussion with him to decide what option would be best for him to advance his career.

“Mick, first, is a good driver,” said Binotto. “I think he has always progressed through his career and I think he has as well progressed during the current season. If you look back how he started and where he’s ending, I think he’s shown that he’s capable of progressing.

“We as Ferrari and Ferrari Driver Academy, we believe he is a great driver now. After Haas have decided for a different choice for the next season, we will need to sit down with Mick and really try to decide what’s the best for his future.

“I think the question is really what would be best for him. We do not have any seat to offer to him right now. I think that’s most important when you are so young in your career, to make sure that whatever is the best opportunity for you, you get it. So we would be fully open to different choices, but something that obviously now we need to sit down with him and to conclude.”

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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9 comments on “Mercedes open to hiring Schumacher as Ferrari ‘do not have a seat for him’”

  1. Come to Mercedes please!

  2. Based on reports earlier in the season, he’ll leave the FDA, but I reckon Mercedes reserve role unless Sargeant’s situation opens up a Williams drive.

  3. Oh man, his father’s legacy is powerful currrency and everybody seem to want to keep the Schumacher name in F1, which I’m not entirely against as I have that sentiment too.
    But I would prefer Mick to drive the LMH Ferrari.

  4. I think he can be a great driver if he carves his own path in Prototype racing or GT racing instead of following his dad’s footsteps. He is a decent driver but I bet every time getting into an F1 car to race knowing what your dad achieved is a lot of pressure.

  5. I think if he stays at Ferrari he’ll be sitting on his hands waiting for a seat for a long time as both current seat holders are pretty fresh. But if he goes to Mercedes as a Reserve Driver, then whenever LH does retire he walks straight into a top team seat, which does have a lot of appeal to it.
    Going elsewhere such as the WEC would be prestigious, but not what he wanted when he entered into F1, and I doubt very much whether that determination to succeed in F1 has diminished at all. He’s obviously been gobsmacked at being fired from Haas, who wouldn’t be, their car is hardly what you’d call successful or even consistent, and what he said does come across as very true – he did as well as the “Car Allowed”, and turned in some great performances while he was there which did show up the car as a “permanent 50/50 chance of a point or two” on any race weekend.

    My gut feeling is that he will jump into Mercedes with both feet if the words are put into writing – and quite rightly too!

  6. Toto “Snake” Wolff in 2013 after Kubica’s career changing accident:

    Toto Wolff insists Mercedes would “love” to facilitate Robert Kubica’s return to Formula One in the future. “If there’s any chance of getting him back in a DTM touring car or F1 cockpit, we’d love to do it. “Any team would love to have a Robert Kubica.”

    Guess what, Toto didn’t help Kubica at all when he was finally ready for F1. In fact when Kubica got race seat Mercedes engine in his Williams was always down on power compared to his team mate, Mercedes junior, George Russell. Never trust Toto, Mercedes and his drivers, they are always lying.

    1. If that is true then I’m very disappointed with Toto, who after all is half Polish and grew up speaking Polish :(

  7. Too bad Magnussen is signed for next year, because Mick has a lot more upside while Magnussen is a never was.

  8. Is Mercedes trying to look more German?

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