F1 News: Mick Schumacher Opens Up About Lessons Learned At Mercedes As Still Hopes For F1 Return
Mercedes reserve driver Mick Schumacher, who is all set to step into the world of World Endurance Championship (WEC) with Alpine, revealed his learnings from the Mercedes camp in the one year spent with the team, which has helped him go one step further as a racing driver.
Schumacher was not chosen for the 2023 season by Haas after he drove for the American team for two years until the end of 2022. He took up the reserve driver role with the team his father, Michael Schumacher, once raced for, Mercedes. Not to forget that he also shared the same role with McLaren Racing.
Though he is said to manage both his full-time WEC role and reserve driver role with Mercedes, Schumacher takes back with him some important lessons he learned from drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. He revealed at the season finale in Abu Dhabi:
“I know as a driver now much more what I want from my team around me, from what I feel like I'm worth and what I can bring to a team.
“Obviously going into my first year in Formula 1 [in 2021], it was kind of hard to know exactly what should be my position and how far can I go with my comments and everything. And having worked with Lewis [Hamilton] and George [Russell] for one year now, I kind of know how high the bar is set and how far I can go, and I have no problem sharing my information in the future.
“Obviously on the driving side, as I haven't been driving, it's kind of difficult to work on it. But in general, still taking all that information that I've been given from Mercedes, with also just observing and everything – yes, I definitely feel like I've done a step forwards.”
Possible Formula 1 Re-Entry In The Future
When he was asked if a return to full-time racing in 2024 was crucial for him, Schumacher said:
“Yeah, very important. Obviously having sat out the whole year, it has been tough. And I'm just excited to be back in a car, and do a race and have a new challenge.
“Obviously I'm a racing driver – I haven't been out of racing in 14 years, I think, previous to this, so it was definitely a clear choice and a clear direction that I wanted to be racing again next year.
“Definitely I see [the World Endurance Championship] as a challenge, but I also see it as something where I, as a driver, can develop further, and hopefully as well, if let's say my way leads back to Formula 1 one day, then I'll be able to take that development that I have done in that series over to Formula 1.”
