The System 1 season is about to return, with subsequent week’s United States Grand Prix. That race week, which incorporates one of many closing three F1 Dash races on the 2024 calendar, kicks off a tripleheader that may see the grid go from Austin to Mexico Metropolis, and at last to Brazil.
One of many main storylines issues one of many closing seats remaining on the grid for the 2025 season. Over at Sauber, whereas the workforce has confirmed veteran driver Nico Hülkenberg for one of many spots, the workforce has but to announce who his teammate shall be subsequent 12 months.
Now Mattia Binotto, the workforce’s new Chief Working Officer and Chief Technical Officer, has confirmed that Mick Schumacher is within the operating for that spot.
Binotto, who joined the Audi operation this summer time (Sauber will transition to the Audi works operation for the 2026 F1 season) spoke with Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport forward of subsequent week’s United States Grand Prix and confirmed that Schumacher is among the choices the workforce is contemplating to drive alongside Hülkenberg subsequent 12 months.
“Positively, we’re evaluating it,” stated Binotto when requested if Schumacher was an possibility. “I met him and spoke to him, I’ve recognized him for a very long time having been a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy. I do know his strengths and weaknesses, he is among the names we bear in mind.”
Binotto additionally outlined the qualities the workforce is searching for when filling that second seat, and Schumacher may present the workforce with the “better of each worlds,” given what they’re on the lookout for.
“We will afford the posh of not dashing, since all the opposite groups have determined their line-up,” added Binotto. “Two important points: on the one hand, expertise to set the expansion path. On the opposite, a younger, proficient driver who can accompany us on the trail to the highest.”
Given the expertise Hülkenberg brings to the desk, the workforce won’t be centered as a lot on discovering a veteran driver alongside him for subsequent season. Valtteri Bottas, who at present drives for Sauber, stays within the operating, however he won’t fulfill the second attribute the workforce is on the lookout for.
Different drivers who’ve emerged as choices for Sauber won’t fulfill that have requirement, drivers comparable to Franco Colapinto — who has shined for Williams since changing Logan Sargeant mid-season — and Gabriel Bortoleto, who at present leads the F2 Championship standings with a pair of race weekends left.
Schumacher, given his two seasons as a full-time driver on the F1 grid with Haas, satisfies that have part whereas additionally checking off the youth field, on condition that he won’t flip 26 till subsequent March.
That might make him a variety that checks each containers for the workforce.
