‘No team boss would have much confidence in Mick Schumacher now’

Michelle Foster
Mercedes reserve Mick Schumacher in the garage at the Spanish Grand Prix. Barcelona, June 2023.

Is Mick Schumacher's Formula 1 dream over?

Williams rejecting the chance to replace Logan Sargeant with Mick Schumacher comes as no surprise to Christian Danner who says the only impression the German left on F1 teams is “we don’t actually need him”.

As Sargeant’s struggles in his rookie season continue, F1 Insider reports Schumacher’s team boss Toto Wolff approached his former right-hand man and now Williams team boss Vowles about signing the German.

According to the report, ‘Wolff did everything he could to make Schumacher palatable to his confidant’ but that after studying Schumacher’s data from the Mercedes simulator ‘Vowles finally cancelled’.

Christian Danner would choose Liam Lawson over Mick Schumacher

Danner isn’t surprised as he feels Schumacher didn’t leave a great impression on the teams in his time on the grid with Haas.

“In the two years that he drove in Formula 1, Mick left an impression on the team bosses: ‘Well, we don’t actually need him,'”Speedweek报价前f1 driver as having told sport.de.

“And of course that has long-term consequences. There is no team boss who would have much confidence in him now.”

Schumacher scored just twice in his 43 starts with the 24-year-old lambasted by his then-team boss Guenther Steiner for his expensive crashes.

Instead, Danner believes if Williams want an alternate to Sargeant, they should consider AlphaTauri driver Liam Lawson.

Not only has the rookie recorded the team’s best result of this season in what was only his third race weekend, P9 at the Singapore Grand Prix, but he’s also twice beaten his more experienced team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

Danner highlighted the difference between Lawson’s performances and Schumacher’s, saying the Kiwi has shown the paddock that he can “do it”.

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“Liam Lawson now also drives a pretty bad car, the AlphaTauri. What did he do? He pulled himself out of the affair absolutely sparkling clean, was faster than the regular driver, scored points, and showed in his first few grands prix: ‘Hey guys, I can do it!'” said Danner.

As such he reckons Lawson is the “optimal solution” for Williams.

“As long as Sergio Perez is not fired from Red Bull, Lawson will be free next year. Then he drives for Williams for a year and then goes to Red Bull,” he said.

However, when the prospect of replacing Sargeant with Lawsonwas put to Williams team boss Vowles, the Briton was quick to point out that his driver was on a par with Lawson during their season together in Formula 2 last year.

“他是been impressive in his few races,” Vowles told Sky F1 of Lawson.

“Obviously, if we wind back a bit, Logan and him were team-mates back in F2 and both finished nigh-on together in the F2 Championship. So we have a direct comparison of the two of them in that environment.

“What we don’t have at the moment is that it’s different cars, different situations. It’s knowing how it really compares between an AlphaTauri and a Williams at this stage.”

As for Lawson’s team boss Christian Horner, he said it is “unlikely” his driver would head over to Williams given that it would be for just one season.

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