Mick Schumacher’s F1 career is ‘over’ unless he lands shock 2025 switch

Mercedes reserve Schumacher has spent two years on the sidelines after losing his seat at Haas

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko believes Mick Schumacher’s F1 career is over unless he lands the vacant second seat at Sauber (Audi) for 2025.

Schumacher, son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, spent two years on the grid in F1 with Haas from 2021-2022 before being dropped after a difficult second campaign.

The German has since played the role of reserve driver at Mercedes behind George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and is a regular presence in the paddock, but has been limited to internal testing sessions. Schumacher has, however, raced this year for Alpine in the World Endurance Championship.

However, as revealed to The Independent earlier this year, he is still focused on landing a second chance in F1 but there is now only one seat unconfirmed for next year.

Nico Hulkenberg has been confirmed in one spot at Sauber – which will become Audi in 2026 – with the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Gabriel Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto all in the running to partner him.

Yet Marko, though believing putting Bottas in the car ahead of Schumacher would be “incomprehensible”, insists the 25-year-old must somehow land the second Sauber seat to have a future in the sport.

"I think the Audi [Sauber] car will certainly not be a winning car next year," Marko told German outlets RTL/ntv and sport.de. "That means there would have been no pressure on either Audi or the driver [Schumacher].

"It would be a good comparison with Nico Hülkenberg, and if his [Schumacher’s] performance isn’t right, you can always make a change for 2026."

"If the situation is really that Valtteri Bottas gets the chance, then the whole thing is even more incomprehensible to me. I think if Schumacher doesn’t get this seat, then Formula 1 history is over for him.

"He should then concentrate on the long-distance races, where he was very successful, and do that. If he stays in motorsport, then he has to find something that he enjoys, but where he also has a chance of winning."

Mick Schumacher is without an F1 seat for 2025 (Getty Images)

Bottas is believed to be the favourite to retain his seat at Sauber, with McLaren junior driver and F2 championship leader Bortoleto also a serious candidate.

A factor which could work in Schumacher’s favour, however, is that Sauber’s new chief technical officer, Mattia Binotto, worked with Schumacher during the German’s time as a Ferrari junior driver.

Schumacher stated in June that he is “really hungry” to carve a route back into F1 as a first choice over other motorsport series.’

“There’s a lot which hasn’t been seen yet, especially from a driving point of view,” he said.

“It’s never been a secret, my goal is to be back on the grid. I’ve shown in multiple ways that I am capable of winning championships. It’s just a matter of it fitting into somebody’s schedule, does it fit into their plan?

“I understand how I could have improved [at Haas], and there’s a lot more to show from my side. It’s all about, what do you want in your team right now? Do you want somebody who you can build a team around? Good for marketing? Purely shut up and drive? There are so many different types of drivers.

“As for me, I’m really hungry for it. I just need to keep performing in WEC, showing everybody what I can do. Then people will know what they get if they hire me, and hopefully I’ll be able to prove to everybody that they made the wrong decision in not keeping me.”