Mick Schumacher claims to have held discussions with Toto Wolff over taking over from Lewis Hamilton in 2025, with more talks scheduled over the coming days. The German has been a reserve driver with Mercedes since losing his Haas seat at the end of the 2022 season.
Whoever steps in to replace Ferrari-bound Hamilton will have huge shoes to fill. The Brit has won six world titles with Mercedes, leading them through an unprecedented period of success between 2013 and 2021.
Despite his legendary F1 lineage, Schumacher doesn’t come close to matching Hamilton in terms of pedigree. The 24-year-old scored 12 Drivers’ Championship points across 43 Grands Prix with Haas before being ruthlessly axed by Guenther Steiner.
Having taken on a reserve role with Mercedes last season, Schumacher still holds out hope of being considered for the soon-to-be-vacant Silver Arrows seat, even claiming that he and team principal Wolff have held ‘brief’ discussions about him racing alongside George Russell.
“It is of course a position that brings with it a lot of pressure,” he told sport.de. “But in terms of feeling, I feel I’m up to it. We will certainly be able to talk a little more in the next few days.
“My chance [to return] is there, I don’t know how big it is yet. I think it will also depend a bit on performance. Hopefully I can recommend myself. I think a few people out there know how good I am.”
“As you can imagine, we’ve been looking at our options already,” Wolff told CNBC. “We like the opportunities out there and maybe we are going to be bold as well.
“I think the spectrum is from the very young talent which could be the future for a long, long time, all the way to the other end of the spectrum, which is lots of performance and knowledge. So I’m not sure where this is going to end. But the next few months are going to be interesting in evaluating all those options.”
