Mick Schumacher has indicated that he is still keeping a return to Formula 1 high on his wish list.
The German, who is competing for Alpine in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, is currently employed as a reserve driver for Mercedes, having been out of a race seat in F1 since leaving Haas at the end of 2022.
But Schumacher seems to still be set on a return to F1, telling Divebomb: “We’ll have to wait and see [regarding a return], I think obviously everything is very open in Formula One at the moment, I mean there is still essentially three or four teams that definitely have seats available and uncontracted seats, which means, as some of the other drivers have commented, one particular driver is the cork in the bottle I guess you could say, and the moment that he decides where to go, it will definitely open up a lot of those movements in the other teams and I think it will go pretty quickly after that.
“Now, saying that, a lot of teams don’t have the pressure to make a decision right now, which also leaves me a bit in the air of course for that, but of course Formula One will always have priority in everything that I do, so as long as that’s not completely closed for me, I will wait and focus on that.”
When asked whether other F1 drivers could make a switch to WEC, Schumacher went on to say: “I think that WEC has become a very valid second option next to Formula One, I have enjoyed my time here, but for me there is nothing better than Formula One, so my constant thoughts are about Formula One and that’s what I really want to do.
“Obviously when I’m here at a race weekend, I’m here to work in WEC and that’s obviously what I focus on, but definitely my ultimate goal is to be back in a Formula One car.”
There are currently four seats vacant for next season. Mercedes are still yet to make a decision on who will partner George Russell, with Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari. Schumacher will hope that is current work with the team will hold him in good stead as Toto Wolff weighs-up the options available to him.
His fellow employer, Alpine, are also looking for a driver to partner Pierre Gasly with Esteban Ocon leaving the French outfit to drive for Haas, but the favourite for the seat is currently their reserve driver Jack Doohan.
RB, to whom Schumacher was linked in early 2022 before hiring Nyck de Vries, are yet to offer Daniel Ricciardo an extension on his one-year contract.
Finally, Sauber, who will become Audi in 2026, are still looking for a partner for Nico Hulkenberg, having missed-out on Carlos Sainz, who is joining Williams for 2025 and beyond.
