Andretti On Mick Schumacher: "Talents Like That Don't Go Away"

Andretti has expressed his confidence in Schumacher. Does this mean the driver could have a place if the F1 team pulls through?

Mario Andretti, former F1 World Champion and co-owner of Andretti Autosport, has expressed his confidence that Mick Schumacher will return to the sport as a regular fixture on the grid in the future. Schumacher, the 23-year-old son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, lost his seat at Haas at the end of last season, with Nico Hülkenberg taking his place.

While Schumacher now sits in a Mercedes seat as a test driver, Andretti spoke with RTL/ntv and sport.de about how Schumacher's talent and impressive skills didn't go unnoticed by him.

"I'm sure someone will take him. Talents like that don't go away."

Although Schumacher will not have a race seat this season, he will still be involved in Mercedes race weekends during free practice sessions. Andretti praised Schumacher's work with Mercedes while highlighting his work with Haas in 2022.

"I think Mick improved enormously last season. No question. And that was evident in his performance.

"[The] name Schumacher is an asset in every respect. I think he carried it with a lot of pride, no doubt."

On top of this, Andretti also spoke about George Russell's potential, predicting that Mercedes will be fighting at the front of the grid again, alongside Ferrari and Red Bull.

Complimenting George, he said:

"If you look at his performance over the past year, not just in qualifying but also his racing prowess, you have to see him as a revelation.

"You have to assume that Mercedes will hit back as hard as they have always done. Can you imagine if we had three teams fighting hard and every now and then a fourth team like McLaren sticks their nose in?"

I think we'd all love to see the Schumacher name return to the grid full-time, and Andretti is making it fairly clear that he will have space for him under his wing if, or when, the time comes with Andretti Autosport.