Mick Schumacher has made it very clear that he wants his current spell racing in the World Endurance Championship to be a stepping stone back into Formula 1.
The 25-year-old would love to be back racing in F1 after his two campaigns with Haas and has teamed up with Alpine this season for WEC while carrying out his duties as a Mercedes reserve driver.
However, speaking on Formel1.de’s YouTube channel, Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has ruled out Mick Schumacher driving for their sister team Visa Cash App RB.
Helmut Marko says he wouldn’t sign Mick Schumacher for RB team
Mick Schumacher showed plenty of promise during his junior racing career before reaching Formula 1.
A former Formula 2 and Formula 3 champion, the German joined Haas alongside fellow rookie Nikita Mazepin.
It didn’t go to plan and two seasons later both drivers were out of the team and off the grid altogether.
In fact, it went so poorly that Gene Haas now has reservations about signing another highly-rated rookie.
Mick Schumacher joined Mercedes as a reserve and test driver when it became clear he would be leaving Haas and has been pitted against talented youngster Kimi Antonelli in recent weeks.
The 25-year-old will be exploring his options behind the scenes to see if he can return to the F1 grid next year.
Schumacher has already been told by Toto Wolff he won’t be filling Lewis Hamilton’s vacant seat and Williams boss James Vowles hasn’t included him on his shortlist for next season.
Now, Marko has added his name to the list of bosses who won’t be pursuing Schumacher to drive for the RB team next year.
Instead, he points towards a trio of young drivers in the Red Bull Junior Program that he has very high hopes for.
Trio of Red Bull juniors blocking another seat on the F1 grid for Mick Schumacher
Asked if he had any interest in signing Schumacher for RB for next season, Marko said: “No, we have some very good juniors in the queue.
“That’s why we have Liam Lawson, in Formula 2 we have Isack Hadjar who is absolutely at the front and we have Arvin Lindblad in Formula 3 who is 16 years old.
“So, we are very well positioned there and again the philosophy is, with the exception of [Daniel] Ricciardo, that it should be a junior team.”
READ MORE: Who is Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
Who are Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad?
Plenty of Formula 1 fans will already be well aware of Liam Lawson after his brilliant stint in the AlphaTauri team last season.
He replaced Daniel Ricciardo at Zandvoort when he broke his hand and is understood to have a clause in his contract guaranteeing him an RB seat in 2025 which may partly explain Marko’s comments on Schumacher.
Isack Hadjar is doing a brilliant job in Formula 2 and Marko has already namechecked the Frenchman when asked about the next Max Verstappen coming through the ranks.
He won the Feature Race at Imola under extreme pressure from McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto and is only nine points behind current leader Zane Maloney in the F2 Drivers’ Championship.
Stepping down another level to Formula 3, Arvid Lindblad is one of the six different winners on the grid after the first three races of the season.
He’s already impressed Johnny Herbert this season and considering at 16 he’s the youngest driver at that level, Lindblad is doing a fantastic job.
Red Bull are well placed when it comes to producing top talent but finding a place for them on the F1 grid is proving tricky.
At 34, Daniel Ricciardo isn’t fulfilling the development part of RB’s existence, while Yuki Tsunoda is entering his fourth season with the team.
Helmut Marko is going to have some very difficult decisions to make sooner rather than later.
The post ‘Very well positioned’: Helmut Marko names three Red Bull juniors as reason not to sign Mick Schumacher for RB appeared first on F1 Oversteer.