New options in Formula 1
What the team boss earthquake brings Schumacher
12/13/2022 1:42 p.m
After the departure of Sauber team boss Frédéric Vasseur in the direction of Ferrari, Andreas Seidl will be his successor at the Swiss Formula 1 racing team. For Mick Schumacher, whose future is still open after leaving Haas, this opens up new options.
It’s been a long time since there has been such a personnel quake in Formula 1: After four years, Andreas Seidl is leaving McLaren and moving to Sauber to initiate Audi’s entry there. The post of team boss becomes vacant as Frederic Vasseur moves to Ferrari. Mattia Binotto had previously submitted his resignation to Scuderia. Mick Schumacher must have followed the latest developments with great interest, after all they have a direct impact on his job prospects in the premier class of motorsport.
According to Formula 1 expert Felix Görner, there are “two options” for the 23-year-old. “Through Andreas Seidl’s move to Sauber, he has another German anchor there. Not just CEO Markus Duesmann, who definitely wants a German driver at Audi in the medium term, but also a German team boss.” So Mick can now decide for himself whether he wants to go to Audi or Mercedes, explained Görner, who listed the advantages and disadvantages of both options.
“At Audi he would have the realistic possibility of becoming a regular driver in 2024, which is of course his absolute goal. He wants to show it to his critics, wants to be a Formula 1 driver and not just a test pilot. He doesn’t have that prospect at Mercedes,” he said brat One problem, however, is that in Orlen, Sauber has a main Polish sponsor who “will continue to try to place Robert Kubica there.” In this case, Mick Schumacher would only be driver number four in the internal hierarchy.
At Mercedes, on the other hand, Toto Wolff had long since rolled out the “silver carpet” for Mick, also because of his history with his father Michael Schumacher. “Ultimately, it would only be a simulator and Friday activity,” Görner clarified, who at the same time emphasized that experience in a world champion team would certainly not be a disadvantage for Schumacher. He could learn “precision and analytical approaches” there and grow alongside top drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. In Görner’s opinion, a decision for Audi would be the “better way” for Mick, but a commitment to Mercedes would be “more realistic”.