At the hot race in Southeast Asia, team boss Günther Steiner will take a close look at how Michael Schumacher’s son is doing on one of the most difficult racetracks on the calendar.
The Haas boss still can’t look at the cards. “We have no pressure. We want to make the right decision and we’re taking our time,” he said in the Singapore paddock on Thursday: “If there’s no more knowledge to be gained, we’re ready to make the decision. But for now, we’re still looking at things.”
The problem for Mick Schumacher: Should Steiner speak out against Schumacher and for Nico Hülkenberg, Antonio Giovinazzi or another candidate, only the vacant seats at Alpine and Williams remain (as of now). But with the traditional English team, Schumacher is now also facing competition from a US boy.
Logan Sargeant (21) has been driving a strong season in Formula 2 since this year as a teammate of ex-DTM star Liam Lawson.
He is currently third in the championship. Bad for Schumacher: fifth place is enough for the man from Florida to collect the necessary points for the Formula 1 super license. A Friday test at the US GP in Austin is also planned – at the Williams.
Their German team boss Jost Capito praises: “I think he’s ready – regardless of whether he gets the points or not.” Sargeant doesn’t even need the marketing bonus of his US passport. “We wouldn’t take him for that,” emphasizes Capito. One thing is certain: like the Australian Oscar Piastri, Sargeant has aroused the interest of Formula 1 teams. And that was back in 2015, when the boy from Fort Lauderdale became junior world champion in karting.
For Mick Schumacher, however, the following applies: regardless of possible competitors, he has to perform. “We want to see how Mick drives the next races,” his team boss Günther Steiner continues to put pressure on. The German, on the other hand, gets verbal support from his own family: “In my opinion, every team boss who doesn’t have Mick on his list makes a huge mistake,” says Ralf Schumacher at Motorsport-total. “If I were a team boss, there would be no question who I would take when I look around at the moment who is on the market.”
After all, his nephew won’t let all the hustle and bustle about the future throw him off track. Ralf Schumacher: “It is one of Mick’s great strengths that he has always kept calm. Even now, at a time when the pressure on him was very great. He handled that brilliantly.”
If he also does that in the difficult night race in Singapore, he should have taken an important step closer to the cockpit for 2023.
