Mick Schumacher looks set to be without a Formula 1 race seat next season after Haas signed veteran Nico Hulkenberg to replace him. Schumacher has not done enough in his two seasons with the US-based team to convince them to keep him for 2023. Hulkenberg, 35, will return to the grid for a full season for the first time since leaving Renault in 2019. He has since made a few substitute appearances for the Racing Point/Aston Martin team. The only remaining hope of an F1 race next year for the son of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher is if American Logan Sargeant fails to secure enough points in this weekend’s Formula 2 final in Abu Dhabi to secure a drive at Williams. Williams said Sargeant, their reserve driver this year, will take the seat if he qualifies. He needs to finish eighth in the championship and is currently third. Schumacher has won 12 points this year to the 25 of Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen, who has beaten him 14 times to five in races where a fair comparison can be made. A series of heavy crashes have also dented Schumacher’s hopes. “I don’t want to hide the fact that I’m very disappointed about the decision not to renew our contract,” the 23-year-old said on social media. “It was bumpy at times, but I steadily improved, I learned a lot and now I know for sure that I deserve a place in Formula 1. The matter is far from closed for me. Setbacks make you stronger. “My fire burns for Formula 1 and I will fight to get back on the starting grid.” Schumacher is a candidate for a reserve at Mercedes. Team principal Toto Wolff said on Sunday he would “consider pursuing this option if he doesn’t get a race seat”. Wolff added that Mercedes and the Schumacher family “belonged together”. Michael drove for Mercedes in endurance racing before graduating to F1, and his first F1 drive in Jordan in 1991 was paid for by the German company. He ended his career with a three-year stint with Mercedes in 2010-12 after returning to F1 following his first retirement at the end of 2006. Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who is leaving McLaren after the final race of the 2022 season in Abu Dhabi as the team has terminated his contract a year early, is also a candidate for Mercedes’ reserve. Ricciardo is also said to be in talks with former team Red Bull for a similar role. Hulkenberg was given the chance to revive a career that spanned nine seasons and is most notable as the longest in F1 history for a driver without a podium finish and for taking pole position for non-competitive Williams in Brazil on debut of. season in 2010. “I’m very pleased to be moving into a full-time racing position with the Haas F1 Team in 2023 – I feel like I’ve never really left Formula 1,” he said. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to do what I love most again, and I want to thank Gene Haas and Gunther Steiner for their trust. “We have work ahead of us to be able to compete with all the other teams in midfield and I’m looking forward to being part of that battle again.” Hulkenberg is regarded as a very talented driver who has never had strong results, often due to his own mistakes – he crashed out of the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix when he challenged Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren for the lead and possible Renault podiums they escaped. after mistakes in Azerbaijan in 2017 and Germany in 2019. His best finish is a fourth place, achieved three times with the Force India team, the forerunner of Aston Martin. Hulkenberg and Magnussen, now team-mates in 2023, famously had a verbal spat in the televised interview pen after the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2017. The German accused the Dane of being “unsporting” and Magnussen responded with a scowl. The two say they have since mended their relationship and no longer have issues with each other.
