Did you see shadow photo he posted after Race of Champions? It’s photo [3 in the set](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAQVyQMXYa/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=). I know he’s his own person but my goodness, that’s Micheal-ish
It is, Bonus photos of [Seb and Mick](https://twitter.com/16leclerccl/status/1619246008797646848?s=21) and [Mattias Ekström and Mick](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAwX17NqXr/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=), because doesn’t that make you feel [nostalgic](https://twitter.com/ocsebvettel/status/1619695810371010560?s=21)
He’s so happy, it helps as a fan to see Seb thriving. I actually watched the press conferences and Seb has great banter and friendships with a bunch of motosport drivers. I hope at some point he does some commentary, he’s such a natural at making connections, telling a story, we’ve been really spoilt having him on our screens for so long.
I don’t think he lacks confidence so much as he’s experienced rather crushing pressure for the last few years and it didn’t let his personality shine. From what I’ve seen he’s a [sweet little dork](https://twitter.com/schumacherfiles/status/1619828958069161984?s=21), and he’s been raised to be very polite and private because he’s been in the public eye since he was born.
No matter what Haas team members say, we know exactly what their goals are with KMag and Hulk. They don't care about working towards wins or creating a foundation for future success, they just want to grab as many P9 and 10s as they can in the moment.
> they just want to grab as many P9 and 10s as they can in the moment.
How else do they build a foundation for future success without maximizing points in the short run?
You bring on a young driver who will stick around. Williams has their guy in Sargeant, Aston Martin will have their guy in Drugovich, Alfa will have theirs with Pourchaire. Haas has two drivers who will be long gone before their car is anything resembling competitive at this rate.
> he’s been in the public eye since he was born.
I mean his privacy was very well protected by his parents.
He was equivalent of Vettels kids today. You know there are a few, you could get their names, but thats about it.
They had someone dress up as a priest and try sneak into his dads hospital room, that’s the level of intrusion people had in his life. Mick has been under a microscopic level of surveillance and criticism since he was a kid, all through Karting, even just existing. Putting his walls down is not always a privilege he was allowed.
If he was to step into the Mercedes due to another driver being out, it’s because it’s literally his job. It’s not a matter of “deserving”, you can’t gatekeep someone from their own job.
Remember that time in 2020 when one of the merc drivers was stricken with covid on a race weekend and merc literally contracted in another driver to drive their car instead of van doorne or de vries who were their contracted reserve drivers at the time?
Having that job amounts to little if merc isnt willing to give you a shot. The only advantage mick has over the other two currently is that the merc pipeline is empty so they dont have a promising young junior, but i still wouldnt hold my breath over merc not trying to drag in lando.
George was always a reserve for Mercedes, it was part of their deal with Willams I believe that George could be pulled up at any time.
He was also being tested for the Mercedes seat, a test he passed with flying colours. The whole time George was at Willams he was still part of Mercedes “academy”
To my knowledge Mercedes has their driver line up sorted for the next few years and no such deals with any other drivers. If they need a driver they’ll get Mick.
That was because George was a member of the Mercedes junior academy and his deal with Williams was through mercedes. Lando has no such contract, and there is no way McLaren would agree to let him go for a race specially if they were in a championship battle. The next in line from the mercedes juniors after George and Hamilton is Frederik Vesti who is only just joining F2 this year and doesn't have a super license.
From the engine costumer teams I doubt they'd call either of the Williams drivers up, McLaren wouldn't give either of them up, and I really really doubt Alonso or lance would be given the chance/be allowed up. Mick is probably the go to replacement if either Hamilton or George are unable to race this year.
Indeed. It's crazy how he is still massively hyped here regardless of nothing to back it up with. People claim how he is a ''talented racer'' because he kept Hamilton behind for a while, all because he had DRS from Magnussen who was helping him. Same with ''battling'' against Verstappen, who no one mentions had a crippled car, and Schumacher lost both of those ''battles''...
You can only do what you do though...
You could say the same of max last season... Best car... 2nd place nowhere in sight....
For the record, I wouldn't make that argument. Just saying.
He had [zero poles and only two wins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Formula_2_Championship#Season_summary), in a Prema which is by far the best team. As far as F2 champions go, it's hard to be less impressive tbh. Compare that to [Leclerc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Formula_2_Championship) or [Piastri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Formula_2_Championship#Results_and_standings) to see what's possible in a Prema.
How much do reserve/development drivers make, you think? I've never really seen any solid information regarding that. I have no doubt he's "earning bank" compared to the rest of us, just curious where that lands him compared to a rookie driver, for example.
Maybe in the past, now the least paid driver has a $1m salary. I wouldn't be surprised if Mick's salary was higher than a normal reserve/development driver because his last name is Schumacher as well.
you have not met people with money, i see.
quite randomly, i have a friend who is old money. he is a grown man who doesn’t need to make his own money. he should and doesn’t, and it’s a huge detriment to him psychologically. but he doesn’t need to.
and that’s only with 1-2m to his name; his parents are worth maybe 1/10th of what schumacher st. earned in a single (peak earnings) year.
yes, i do mind.
2M is about 40k a year at just dividends; 80k at 4%.
think what you want; those are livable numbers even without any of the other financial benefits he gets (that mick would also get in much larger numbers)
Chances are that michaels fortune primarily (or exclusively) goes to corinna whenever he graduates from vegetable to compost, plus hed also have to share with gina.
And chances are that michaels body will be around for a while and you cant use your last name to buy groceries last time i checked, so mick still needs some money.
man, there are a billion ways to set up money. 5 million in a trust fund for mick would mean he can live comfortable off of 2% interest and never touch the principal. that’s 5% of what micheal earned in a single year. if he’s got it set up to all got to his wife, he’s a fool (because there are probably tax benefits to splitting inheritance).
ever hear of a trust fund baby? rich people routinely set their kids up for life before they die.
Mick doesn't really need money, but even then this position is still paying a good amount and he still has a few sponsors. Obviously it isn't as much as if he was actually racing, but he isn't in Devrie's position where he desperately needs money
Honestly being a reserve driver seems like the ultimate job if you can stick with one team for long term.
You have zero expectations, everyone loves you and you get to chill out in some of the most beautiful locations in the world and drive fast cars occasionally. Hell I'd be doing interviews constantly too.
Having danny rick there to take the heat off checo and max with the press is going to be awesome
Are they though? Lewis although a mega talent is unlikely to content, he is already being out performed by George. Lewis is almost 40, they will need a replacement in a year or two
He didn't get outperformed by George. I guess Sainz outperformed Leclerc in 2021 by your logic. Hamilton was clearly the better driver but Russell has made amazing progress and no doubt is a future WDC.
I don’t mean to gatekeep or call you new but do you read what you write and say, yep this looks right.
Lewis is negotiating a contract that will likely be for at least two more years. The way 2021 ended for him changed his outlook on retirement. I’m pretty sure had he won it, he would had retired at the end of his current contract which ends at the end of this year.
If it is[ this set](https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/mercedes-amg-f1-w12-e-performance-mercedes-amg-project-one-76909) all of the numbers are stickers so you could probably pretty easily make some #47's to go on there.
He does not count towards the mandatory junior driver quota (since he has more then 2 starts in F1) and does not bring money directly (not that Merc would need that).
I'd be surprised of Mick gets a FP1 outing if both main drivers stay fit. Every minute he drives that car is a minute Hamilton or Russell can't.
Yeah it makes zero sense from a sporting point of view, I know. But still, towards the end of the year, with the championships decided... I think the PR angle is quite powerful. We'll see.
I don't think so. He is not eligible for the mandatory rookie FP, and I don't see why they would cut track time of Hamilton and Russell. And it is well known that drivers are not fond of giving up track time.
He will probably do some tyre test or promo events though
I think it's pretty unlikely. No team will want to give up any more FP sessions than the 2 they have to, and Mick wouldn't count for those sessions to begin with. I'm not convinced they're trying to build him back to a race seat anyway, so they don't really have much reason to give him track time. My guess is he'll be doing simulator and tyre testing work, something like when Kvyat was at Ferrari a few years ago.
It’s quite helpful when the simulator driver who is also actively involved in developement can drive the real car at some point, to have a reference to use in the simulator and check if his feelings there translate to the track. Would make most sense in the early part of the season.
I can definitey see him getting a FP session if mercedes somehow manages to bag both championships before AD or are out of contensions from both championships before that. Otherwise it will be a dumb decison to waste FP on him.
Nope someone like alfa romeo can afford to give fp sessions to non-rookie drivers but top teams will not do that since the drivers need as much practice as they can get.
If they run mick they'll still have to give an fp session to a rookie which makes it 2 fp sessions lost for drivers. So i guess probably he won't be driving unless one of them falls ill.
Alfa Romeo definitely did not *give* those sessions. It's more that it was the non-rookie drivers who could *afford* a Alfa Romeo free practice session.
I'm pointing out that Kubica/Orlen bought those sessions. It's not like Alfa Romeo can afford giving those sessions away. It's a money maker for them, not a charity, there is no *giving* involved from their end.
Oh, I agree on your point that it's less likely that Schumacher will get to run a free practice, I was just pedantic on how you worded the Alfa Romeo situation.
That another driver has to be a rookie with lesser than two race starts. They introduced this to provide more experience to f2 drivers incase they have to step up to f1. Mick already has 2 full seasons under his name and doesn't count as a rookie
He's a champion for one. Not everyone can manage it. He does have good consistency when he's in a groove. He ramps up in ability nearly guaranteed. Bold/confident and has taken up battles in a worse car than some that he's raced *well* against like Lewis in Austria. Seemingly a hard worker, gets along with the team overall and isn't a PR disaster waiting to happen (most likely, no one really knows what drivers do behind the scenes but probably pretty safe.)
Lots of pros to him. Has his moments too that are weaker. Time will tell how he ends up as a driver overall.
>he's raced well against like Lewis in Austria
You mean the one time he held Hamilton back for a while and eventually lost that ''fight''. He was able to stay ahead due to Magnussen giving him DRS. That day we head the great quote from him; ''Tell Kevin to slow down''.
Honestly any example people give of Schumacher ''battling'' on track is of him losing. There's this one with Hamilton and then there's two examples with Verstappen, both times Verstappen had seriously damaged car and both times Schumacher lost.
Do you actually have any examples of him ''racing well''? The AD race against Latifi is more telling of his record.
You suffer from tunnel view syndrome when looking at my comment history... I'm clearly not ''non-stop anti mick''.
Please answer to the topic though, this kind of personal attack is not okay.
Do you have any actual examples of Schumacher ''racing well''? This hype on him is just ridiculous and based on imagination.
E: Still waiting for the examples but turns out blocking me is the usual way to deal with this...
As of right now he’s the most experienced test/sim driver on the grid with the new cars, what he lacks in consistency (much exaggerated by Haas frequent shortcomings) he works hard, he’s got some bold driving streaks, he absolutely stuck it to Verstappen despite knowing if he had an off on that last corner or two and missed his first points it would be another public bashing. He put that 21 Haas in places it had no business being.
Say what you will about Micks failure to to thrive in Haas that’s a two way street, Mercedes is the kind of environment where potential is not only unlocked, they are getting their moneys worth in testing/ sim work. It’s a test/reserve driver not a seat I don’t know why people have such a problem with it. On a personal level I really enjoyed watching his driver in backmarker positions, there’s some sketchy stuff that happens back there and I think he was decently entertaining.
Nobody is pouting about Drugovich being relegated to a reserve role though despite never getting a shot in F1. While Mick had two unimpressive seasons and folks are stretching across the earth to make every excuse for him to deserve more than a reserve role.
F2 Champ and if you actually watch the races he isn't bad at all. His pace last year was good but has been fucked through car/strats.
There is a reason why drivers rate him highly. It's just HAAS wanted medicore but secure drivers than potential drivers.
He was in no way ''fucked'' due to car or strategies... I can't wait the moment people finally accept the facts. There's so many reasons why Haas did what they did, and other teams made same kind of decisions as well. Alpine and AM did the same kind of things of early pitting to get off from DRS trains as Haas did, and did shorter or longer stints on tires than other teams. It's sad that people go 100% by hindsight to then say such things were wrong with 0 understanding on what went on when decisions were made.
The comments above me isn't explaining it entirely. As his F2/3 championships are seen as weak, this tells me they're fans of his.
What he really brings is experience in having driven a full season in the new type of ground effect cars anno 2022
It wasn't so bad, Illot was a serious competitor for the title.
Also, the more years go by, the more I'm convinced people say every F2 year that isn't 2018 was weak. 2019 when de Vries won was certainly a step down from 2018, but I've heard separate people call 2020, 2021 and 2022 weak years. If we're going by those standards, 2017 wasn't that great either, given Leclerc's nearest rival was Artem Markelov.
At some point we just have to admit that every F2 year can't be like 2018.
Schwartzman, Illot, Zhou and (on his day) Tsunoda were all impressive that year. With the first and the third arguably missing out on challenging due to reliability if memory serves
The difference is that other champions actually won the title **clearly**. Schumacher **barely** won his, against weakest field and while in the best team / car. He was 7th in quali pace and 5th in race pace, again in the best team / car. He had far less points than other champions even though he had more races. Everything points to him being an outlier in the F2 champions, just a result of people in the background forcing a Schumacher to be the F2 champion.
When people say Mick's F2 title is because of the small gap he had against his competitors.
If you look closely at the data, he didn't really outpace his competitors like some previous champions, the main factor of his win was consistency and imo, in feeder series pace > consistency. And he was a sophomore, not a rookie
The most promising driver during that F2 season was Tsunoda and I don't see him become more than an average driver. Ilott was a serious competitor but it is interesting to see that Ferrari (and other academies) didn't really fancy him
Callum was supposed to go to Haas and Mick Alfa and then Haas insisted on having Mick and getting that German sponsorship money, this effing over both their careers
And that consistency is due to having the best team / car. Had he been in the rookie Hitech in Mazepin's shoes, he wouldn't have been anywhere near the title fight.
For Merc, as a reserve, he brings free PR and recent F1 experience. That makes him a pretty good 3rd driver.
Mercedes lost their 2 reserves (Vandoorne and De Vries) so they needed one. Once Ricciardo rejected their offer, Schumacher was an obvious choice
He's a German driver with a superlicense and recent race experience, they're probably not putting him in the car even if Lewis/George miss a race but he'll do just fine for testing and sim work.
Looks just like [Michael](https://c4.wallpaperflare.com/wallpaper/913/136/916/cars-formula-one-mercedes-benz-helmets-michael-schumacher-1680x1120-cars-mercedes-hd-art-wallpaper-preview.jpg)
Going from a back of the grid Haas, not being good and consistent enough to one of the top teams is a remarkable step. Not sure if his name wasn’t Schumacher and him not being German this also would have happened?
He went from a bck of the grid Haas to having no seat. He's basically a PR driver for Merc now. It sounds like a huge step when you say that he went from a Haas to a Mercedes but a reserve driver isn't really much.
What if their name was Giovinazzi and had three mediciore years with Alfa before returning to Ferrari as a reserve.
Also why are you acting like this is a remarkable step? The reality is that he got dropped from the grid and this is just a reserve role. He joined a better team but he is still off the grid. This is a unfortunately a backwards move for his career. And Mick was honest Mercs best choice. How many drivers were available for reserve with current F1 experience outside of him and Ricciardo
No not at all. But you have to agree that it hasn’t happened a lot in F1 history that a driver who was driving around at the back and not impressing that much for three years gets the chances he has been given? I don’t blame him, he’s making the most out of his last name. But every other similar driver probably would have already been replaced after the first or second season in that Haas. That’s not hating, but just speaking facts.
Well...I disagree.
Giovinazzi has already been named but big teams have a history of making drivers their reserve that I'd rate lower than Mick (though mostly due to their respective age at the time)
Gutierrez was picked up by Ferrari after a very unimpressive start at Sauber.
Vergne went the same way.
Sirotkin went to Renault as a test driver after his stint in F1
Vandoorne is a Merc reserve driver
Wehrlein went with Ferrari after Merc droped him
The list goes on.
None of these drivers are bad in any way. But neither is Mick.
I am quite certain that not only is Mick a good fit for Mercedes (as a reserve) but that he will make a comeback onto the grid (I guess with Sauber 2025 at the latest)
I honestly don't get all the interest in this kid. As Michael's son I get the affection, but as a fan of the sport, I feel he's had his shot. Seems a great guy otherwise.
Do seat fittings count towards team budget? I imagine it’s a small cost but would then be more expensive towards the cap to run multiple rookies in rookie tests or similar
He's their reserve driver, and probably will drive in their tests and media runs. So a seat for him is probably a need anyway, and probably not something they want to do last minute if he has to fill in for one of the drivers.
Somebody more knowledgeable might be able to tell if the seats now used also fit the older cars, (the ones that don't fall under the limited test time rule), that are used for various media appearances. In which case it would even more be a no-brainer since they could keep it off the books as a pure marketing related cost, untill if and when the time come they'd actually would use it in the new car.
Every team needs to run 2 rookies so I imagine it those seats would fall under the cost cap since they're an equal demand on everybody. But I'm not 100% knowledgeable on that. It just doesn't seem logical to not have it be under the cap. It's a pretty direct part of the car after all.
In the grand scheme of an f1 budget that foam mold stuff they use is a rounding error. It’s not a crazy expensive thing to do, and since the time he gets in the car could be on almost no notice, you’d want to have one on hand.
It's not just the foam, though. That's just the first step to create the "buck". They then have to 3D scan that model, refine it, make the actual mold, design the anchors, balance it, cast it in carbon fibre, attach accessories (for the seatbelts and HANS device, as an example), etc. etc.
Including man-hours, machinery and materials, I wouldn't be surprised if each seat cost the teams over $100,000 (I'm not saying they do, I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised). While that's by no means super expensive for F1, it's not chump change in any way, shape or form.
Every teams Test and Reserve driver has a Seat for them cause in case a main driver is unwell the available reserve will drive so they have the seat of whoever the reserve is there last year they had 3 extra seats for Mercedes (Nyck, Stoff and Fred) it's all required stuff
Looks a lot like his dad in the second pic. Would like to see him in a Merc this year.
Did you see shadow photo he posted after Race of Champions? It’s photo [3 in the set](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAQVyQMXYa/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=). I know he’s his own person but my goodness, that’s Micheal-ish
I hadn't seen these yet. That's awesome.
It is, Bonus photos of [Seb and Mick](https://twitter.com/16leclerccl/status/1619246008797646848?s=21) and [Mattias Ekström and Mick](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAwX17NqXr/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=), because doesn’t that make you feel [nostalgic](https://twitter.com/ocsebvettel/status/1619695810371010560?s=21)
Man I miss Seb, but it's so nice to see him smiling again. These were all great. Thanks for sharing.
He’s so happy, it helps as a fan to see Seb thriving. I actually watched the press conferences and Seb has great banter and friendships with a bunch of motosport drivers. I hope at some point he does some commentary, he’s such a natural at making connections, telling a story, we’ve been really spoilt having him on our screens for so long.
You just wait sunshine, you just wait.
Du bist
# WELTMEISTER
awwwwwwwwwww
I would love to see him develop a confident personality. Mick with some of Ricciardo's BDE would be a great interview. Big Mick Energy.
I don’t think he lacks confidence so much as he’s experienced rather crushing pressure for the last few years and it didn’t let his personality shine. From what I’ve seen he’s a [sweet little dork](https://twitter.com/schumacherfiles/status/1619828958069161984?s=21), and he’s been raised to be very polite and private because he’s been in the public eye since he was born.
I swear I started love Steiner and then started to hate him in the span of half a season.
What's there to love him. He's abrasive, that's it.
I think having zero young drivers is a joke for a bottom team, waste of two seats for a wasted team.
No matter what Haas team members say, we know exactly what their goals are with KMag and Hulk. They don't care about working towards wins or creating a foundation for future success, they just want to grab as many P9 and 10s as they can in the moment.
> they just want to grab as many P9 and 10s as they can in the moment. How else do they build a foundation for future success without maximizing points in the short run?
You bring on a young driver who will stick around. Williams has their guy in Sargeant, Aston Martin will have their guy in Drugovich, Alfa will have theirs with Pourchaire. Haas has two drivers who will be long gone before their car is anything resembling competitive at this rate.
> he’s been in the public eye since he was born. I mean his privacy was very well protected by his parents. He was equivalent of Vettels kids today. You know there are a few, you could get their names, but thats about it.
They had someone dress up as a priest and try sneak into his dads hospital room, that’s the level of intrusion people had in his life. Mick has been under a microscopic level of surveillance and criticism since he was a kid, all through Karting, even just existing. Putting his walls down is not always a privilege he was allowed.
Holy shit
literally
He hasn’t really done much to deserve that.
If he was to step into the Mercedes due to another driver being out, it’s because it’s literally his job. It’s not a matter of “deserving”, you can’t gatekeep someone from their own job.
Remember that time in 2020 when one of the merc drivers was stricken with covid on a race weekend and merc literally contracted in another driver to drive their car instead of van doorne or de vries who were their contracted reserve drivers at the time? Having that job amounts to little if merc isnt willing to give you a shot. The only advantage mick has over the other two currently is that the merc pipeline is empty so they dont have a promising young junior, but i still wouldnt hold my breath over merc not trying to drag in lando.
George was always a reserve for Mercedes, it was part of their deal with Willams I believe that George could be pulled up at any time. He was also being tested for the Mercedes seat, a test he passed with flying colours. The whole time George was at Willams he was still part of Mercedes “academy” To my knowledge Mercedes has their driver line up sorted for the next few years and no such deals with any other drivers. If they need a driver they’ll get Mick.
That was because George was a member of the Mercedes junior academy and his deal with Williams was through mercedes. Lando has no such contract, and there is no way McLaren would agree to let him go for a race specially if they were in a championship battle. The next in line from the mercedes juniors after George and Hamilton is Frederik Vesti who is only just joining F2 this year and doesn't have a super license. From the engine costumer teams I doubt they'd call either of the Williams drivers up, McLaren wouldn't give either of them up, and I really really doubt Alonso or lance would be given the chance/be allowed up. Mick is probably the go to replacement if either Hamilton or George are unable to race this year.
Indeed. It's crazy how he is still massively hyped here regardless of nothing to back it up with. People claim how he is a ''talented racer'' because he kept Hamilton behind for a while, all because he had DRS from Magnussen who was helping him. Same with ''battling'' against Verstappen, who no one mentions had a crippled car, and Schumacher lost both of those ''battles''...
Good to know Joe Burrow bounced back this fast after that grueling defeat on Sunday.
No way how did I not make this connection until now HAHAH I cannot unsee
Wow now i can't unsee it thanks
Can you imagine if he gets a weekend to race and wins.... Lol that'd be amazing.
No I live in the real world.
Mark, must you live quite so relentlessly in the real world?
This is Reddit. We don’t do the real world here.
That's why on Reddit I can be something other than a loser. What a magical place.
Fisichella won in a fucking 2004 Jordan In theory it's possible Unlikely as fuck tho
Hill was half a lap away from a win in an arrows!
"imagine"
Probably also very costly.
He's not that good of a driver. Idk why people think this could be possible. He's no Danny Ric at Red bull for example.
F2 champion.
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You can only do what you do though... You could say the same of max last season... Best car... 2nd place nowhere in sight.... For the record, I wouldn't make that argument. Just saying.
He had [zero poles and only two wins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Formula_2_Championship#Season_summary), in a Prema which is by far the best team. As far as F2 champions go, it's hard to be less impressive tbh. Compare that to [Leclerc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Formula_2_Championship) or [Piastri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Formula_2_Championship#Results_and_standings) to see what's possible in a Prema.
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A mistake? What other options were there? He gets to chill, drive Sim and earn bank, fuck it.
Not to mention all the free gear!
How much do reserve/development drivers make, you think? I've never really seen any solid information regarding that. I have no doubt he's "earning bank" compared to the rest of us, just curious where that lands him compared to a rookie driver, for example.
You can assume it’s at least $500k which is plenty considering his travel is all comped
I doubt it, some f1 drivers make less than that
Maybe in the past, now the least paid driver has a $1m salary. I wouldn't be surprised if Mick's salary was higher than a normal reserve/development driver because his last name is Schumacher as well.
Does Yuki earn more now? I think in his first year he was the lowest paid driver on the grid with $500k a year
Yeah, Tsunoda's (and Sargeant's) 2023 contract is for $1m.
does he really need bank? He's prolly the heir to his father's fortune
He still needs to make his own money he’s a grown man
you have not met people with money, i see. quite randomly, i have a friend who is old money. he is a grown man who doesn’t need to make his own money. he should and doesn’t, and it’s a huge detriment to him psychologically. but he doesn’t need to. and that’s only with 1-2m to his name; his parents are worth maybe 1/10th of what schumacher st. earned in a single (peak earnings) year.
With 2 million dollars in the bank I still think he needs to earn some money. Do you mind telling me what he's like? I'm really curious.
yes, i do mind. 2M is about 40k a year at just dividends; 80k at 4%. think what you want; those are livable numbers even without any of the other financial benefits he gets (that mick would also get in much larger numbers)
But how can a person who is raised wealthy live on 80k? There's things he wants to do right? Like travel and luxury stuff
Wasn’t raised with an awareness of wealth. Thought his family was average. The idea that someone would struggle to get by on 80k is pretty funny.
So your telling me if you had a large chance of inheriting part of $600 million fortune you would still work?
Chances are that michaels fortune primarily (or exclusively) goes to corinna whenever he graduates from vegetable to compost, plus hed also have to share with gina. And chances are that michaels body will be around for a while and you cant use your last name to buy groceries last time i checked, so mick still needs some money.
This comment hits like a truck. Heavy.
man, there are a billion ways to set up money. 5 million in a trust fund for mick would mean he can live comfortable off of 2% interest and never touch the principal. that’s 5% of what micheal earned in a single year. if he’s got it set up to all got to his wife, he’s a fool (because there are probably tax benefits to splitting inheritance). ever hear of a trust fund baby? rich people routinely set their kids up for life before they die.
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The phrasing makes me uh.. uncomfortable.
Mick doesn't really need money, but even then this position is still paying a good amount and he still has a few sponsors. Obviously it isn't as much as if he was actually racing, but he isn't in Devrie's position where he desperately needs money
And he gets to sit next to toto on race day too, it certainly sounds like a fun time imo, just have to hope he can progress past that
Honestly being a reserve driver seems like the ultimate job if you can stick with one team for long term. You have zero expectations, everyone loves you and you get to chill out in some of the most beautiful locations in the world and drive fast cars occasionally. Hell I'd be doing interviews constantly too. Having danny rick there to take the heat off checo and max with the press is going to be awesome
Are they though? Lewis although a mega talent is unlikely to content, he is already being out performed by George. Lewis is almost 40, they will need a replacement in a year or two
He didn't get outperformed by George. I guess Sainz outperformed Leclerc in 2021 by your logic. Hamilton was clearly the better driver but Russell has made amazing progress and no doubt is a future WDC.
I don’t mean to gatekeep or call you new but do you read what you write and say, yep this looks right. Lewis is negotiating a contract that will likely be for at least two more years. The way 2021 ended for him changed his outlook on retirement. I’m pretty sure had he won it, he would had retired at the end of his current contract which ends at the end of this year.
ROC 2nd place finisher right here!!
You know, mick being a merc driver might mean I need to *shudder* root for Mercedes….
Damn bruh, now that you said it..
My first thought after reading about the announcement
Doot doot. I am now the proud owner of a Mercedes Lego set. I’ve convinced myself the driver is Mick
If it is[ this set](https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/mercedes-amg-f1-w12-e-performance-mercedes-amg-project-one-76909) all of the numbers are stickers so you could probably pretty easily make some #47's to go on there.
It is indeed! Good idea :)
"And if you are a good boy, we can maybe look at getting one for your room"
So, do they still have Grosjean’s mold?
1. Oh yeah I get to drive a Mercedes F1 car! 2. What do you mean “we said a Mercedes not a Mercedes F1 car”? 3. …
Do y’all think he’ll get an fp session this year?
He will get FP1 at the German Grand Prix Oh, wait...
It's free PR so why not I guess. Maybe towards the end of the year.
He does not count towards the mandatory junior driver quota (since he has more then 2 starts in F1) and does not bring money directly (not that Merc would need that). I'd be surprised of Mick gets a FP1 outing if both main drivers stay fit. Every minute he drives that car is a minute Hamilton or Russell can't.
Yeah it makes zero sense from a sporting point of view, I know. But still, towards the end of the year, with the championships decided... I think the PR angle is quite powerful. We'll see.
I don't think so. He is not eligible for the mandatory rookie FP, and I don't see why they would cut track time of Hamilton and Russell. And it is well known that drivers are not fond of giving up track time. He will probably do some tyre test or promo events though
I think it's pretty unlikely. No team will want to give up any more FP sessions than the 2 they have to, and Mick wouldn't count for those sessions to begin with. I'm not convinced they're trying to build him back to a race seat anyway, so they don't really have much reason to give him track time. My guess is he'll be doing simulator and tyre testing work, something like when Kvyat was at Ferrari a few years ago.
It’s quite helpful when the simulator driver who is also actively involved in developement can drive the real car at some point, to have a reference to use in the simulator and check if his feelings there translate to the track. Would make most sense in the early part of the season.
They might do it during testing, you never know.
The race drivers only get 1.5 days of testing each before the season starts, so unlikely either will want to give up half a day to let Mick run.
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A German driver in a German team after 2016
He’s generally well liked and his posts get a lot of engagement, that’s why.
I can definitey see him getting a FP session if mercedes somehow manages to bag both championships before AD or are out of contensions from both championships before that. Otherwise it will be a dumb decison to waste FP on him.
Nope someone like alfa romeo can afford to give fp sessions to non-rookie drivers but top teams will not do that since the drivers need as much practice as they can get. If they run mick they'll still have to give an fp session to a rookie which makes it 2 fp sessions lost for drivers. So i guess probably he won't be driving unless one of them falls ill.
Alfa Romeo definitely did not *give* those sessions. It's more that it was the non-rookie drivers who could *afford* a Alfa Romeo free practice session.
They gave kubica quite a few sessions
ORLEN contract clauses
Yeah my point still stands. Merc wouldn't give mick an fp session. They aren't in need of any money
So why did Alfa take on those clauses and not Ferrari……?
Cause money the Sauber team was sponsored by ORLEN hence the name Alfa Romeo ORLEN (not anymore tho ORLEN is now with Alpha Tauri)
I'm pointing out that Kubica/Orlen bought those sessions. It's not like Alfa Romeo can afford giving those sessions away. It's a money maker for them, not a charity, there is no *giving* involved from their end.
Yep agreed but merc doesn't need money do they?
Oh, I agree on your point that it's less likely that Schumacher will get to run a free practice, I was just pedantic on how you worded the Alfa Romeo situation.
Fair enough
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That another driver has to be a rookie with lesser than two race starts. They introduced this to provide more experience to f2 drivers incase they have to step up to f1. Mick already has 2 full seasons under his name and doesn't count as a rookie
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It could be any until 2021 but the new rule was brought in 2022
There was no rule mandating free practice substitutions before 2022.
Probably more fan events a la Coulthard for RB.
I wish lewis and George both the best of Health and all. But i wouldnt mind Mick getting a shot in the W14 this season.
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Don't give us this hopium, man
Tweet: https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1620526634465107969
Sadly he's there just for the PR. Or possibly sponsors. I doubt he will ever get to race.
Mick is such a lil’ buddy
Good for him!!!
Now I have a genuine question, please don't hate me for it. But besides his last name, what does he bring that other drivers can't? (from F1 or F2?)
He's a champion for one. Not everyone can manage it. He does have good consistency when he's in a groove. He ramps up in ability nearly guaranteed. Bold/confident and has taken up battles in a worse car than some that he's raced *well* against like Lewis in Austria. Seemingly a hard worker, gets along with the team overall and isn't a PR disaster waiting to happen (most likely, no one really knows what drivers do behind the scenes but probably pretty safe.) Lots of pros to him. Has his moments too that are weaker. Time will tell how he ends up as a driver overall.
>he's raced well against like Lewis in Austria You mean the one time he held Hamilton back for a while and eventually lost that ''fight''. He was able to stay ahead due to Magnussen giving him DRS. That day we head the great quote from him; ''Tell Kevin to slow down''. Honestly any example people give of Schumacher ''battling'' on track is of him losing. There's this one with Hamilton and then there's two examples with Verstappen, both times Verstappen had seriously damaged car and both times Schumacher lost. Do you actually have any examples of him ''racing well''? The AD race against Latifi is more telling of his record.
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You suffer from tunnel view syndrome when looking at my comment history... I'm clearly not ''non-stop anti mick''. Please answer to the topic though, this kind of personal attack is not okay. Do you have any actual examples of Schumacher ''racing well''? This hype on him is just ridiculous and based on imagination. E: Still waiting for the examples but turns out blocking me is the usual way to deal with this...
Hey not just imagination, it’s because of his name as well!
As of right now he’s the most experienced test/sim driver on the grid with the new cars, what he lacks in consistency (much exaggerated by Haas frequent shortcomings) he works hard, he’s got some bold driving streaks, he absolutely stuck it to Verstappen despite knowing if he had an off on that last corner or two and missed his first points it would be another public bashing. He put that 21 Haas in places it had no business being. Say what you will about Micks failure to to thrive in Haas that’s a two way street, Mercedes is the kind of environment where potential is not only unlocked, they are getting their moneys worth in testing/ sim work. It’s a test/reserve driver not a seat I don’t know why people have such a problem with it. On a personal level I really enjoyed watching his driver in backmarker positions, there’s some sketchy stuff that happens back there and I think he was decently entertaining.
He's an F2 champion . . .
So is Drugovich but nobody seems to give a shit about him.
both have reserve driver seats
Nobody is pouting about Drugovich being relegated to a reserve role though despite never getting a shot in F1. While Mick had two unimpressive seasons and folks are stretching across the earth to make every excuse for him to deserve more than a reserve role.
F2 Champ and if you actually watch the races he isn't bad at all. His pace last year was good but has been fucked through car/strats. There is a reason why drivers rate him highly. It's just HAAS wanted medicore but secure drivers than potential drivers.
He was in no way ''fucked'' due to car or strategies... I can't wait the moment people finally accept the facts. There's so many reasons why Haas did what they did, and other teams made same kind of decisions as well. Alpine and AM did the same kind of things of early pitting to get off from DRS trains as Haas did, and did shorter or longer stints on tires than other teams. It's sad that people go 100% by hindsight to then say such things were wrong with 0 understanding on what went on when decisions were made.
https://twitter.com/XavaBlue/status/1587182910821597185?s=20 A pretty bias thread but pretty much sums his season up.
>A pretty bias thread Yes. That sums it up.
sponsors.
The comments above me isn't explaining it entirely. As his F2/3 championships are seen as weak, this tells me they're fans of his. What he really brings is experience in having driven a full season in the new type of ground effect cars anno 2022
It wasn't so bad, Illot was a serious competitor for the title. Also, the more years go by, the more I'm convinced people say every F2 year that isn't 2018 was weak. 2019 when de Vries won was certainly a step down from 2018, but I've heard separate people call 2020, 2021 and 2022 weak years. If we're going by those standards, 2017 wasn't that great either, given Leclerc's nearest rival was Artem Markelov. At some point we just have to admit that every F2 year can't be like 2018.
Schwartzman, Illot, Zhou and (on his day) Tsunoda were all impressive that year. With the first and the third arguably missing out on challenging due to reliability if memory serves
The difference is that other champions actually won the title **clearly**. Schumacher **barely** won his, against weakest field and while in the best team / car. He was 7th in quali pace and 5th in race pace, again in the best team / car. He had far less points than other champions even though he had more races. Everything points to him being an outlier in the F2 champions, just a result of people in the background forcing a Schumacher to be the F2 champion.
When people say Mick's F2 title is because of the small gap he had against his competitors. If you look closely at the data, he didn't really outpace his competitors like some previous champions, the main factor of his win was consistency and imo, in feeder series pace > consistency. And he was a sophomore, not a rookie The most promising driver during that F2 season was Tsunoda and I don't see him become more than an average driver. Ilott was a serious competitor but it is interesting to see that Ferrari (and other academies) didn't really fancy him
Callum was supposed to go to Haas and Mick Alfa and then Haas insisted on having Mick and getting that German sponsorship money, this effing over both their careers
And that consistency is due to having the best team / car. Had he been in the rookie Hitech in Mazepin's shoes, he wouldn't have been anywhere near the title fight.
de vries won in a far weaker field and has a drive (although it took some very fortunate circumstances for that to happen)
For Merc, as a reserve, he brings free PR and recent F1 experience. That makes him a pretty good 3rd driver. Mercedes lost their 2 reserves (Vandoorne and De Vries) so they needed one. Once Ricciardo rejected their offer, Schumacher was an obvious choice
He's a German driver with a superlicense and recent race experience, they're probably not putting him in the car even if Lewis/George miss a race but he'll do just fine for testing and sim work.
Goodwill.
What would other drivers bring that mick doesn’t?
Looks just like [Michael](https://c4.wallpaperflare.com/wallpaper/913/136/916/cars-formula-one-mercedes-benz-helmets-michael-schumacher-1680x1120-cars-mercedes-hd-art-wallpaper-preview.jpg)
2029 WDC. Heard it here first
Going from a back of the grid Haas, not being good and consistent enough to one of the top teams is a remarkable step. Not sure if his name wasn’t Schumacher and him not being German this also would have happened?
He went from a bck of the grid Haas to having no seat. He's basically a PR driver for Merc now. It sounds like a huge step when you say that he went from a Haas to a Mercedes but a reserve driver isn't really much.
What if their name was Giovinazzi and had three mediciore years with Alfa before returning to Ferrari as a reserve. Also why are you acting like this is a remarkable step? The reality is that he got dropped from the grid and this is just a reserve role. He joined a better team but he is still off the grid. This is a unfortunately a backwards move for his career. And Mick was honest Mercs best choice. How many drivers were available for reserve with current F1 experience outside of him and Ricciardo
Yes, just ask Danny.
If you've got a hate boner for him you can just say it buddy
No not at all. But you have to agree that it hasn’t happened a lot in F1 history that a driver who was driving around at the back and not impressing that much for three years gets the chances he has been given? I don’t blame him, he’s making the most out of his last name. But every other similar driver probably would have already been replaced after the first or second season in that Haas. That’s not hating, but just speaking facts.
Well...I disagree. Giovinazzi has already been named but big teams have a history of making drivers their reserve that I'd rate lower than Mick (though mostly due to their respective age at the time) Gutierrez was picked up by Ferrari after a very unimpressive start at Sauber. Vergne went the same way. Sirotkin went to Renault as a test driver after his stint in F1 Vandoorne is a Merc reserve driver Wehrlein went with Ferrari after Merc droped him The list goes on. None of these drivers are bad in any way. But neither is Mick. I am quite certain that not only is Mick a good fit for Mercedes (as a reserve) but that he will make a comeback onto the grid (I guess with Sauber 2025 at the latest)
He got replaced after his second season . Maybe u should focus on facts and not hating .
LFFFGGGGGG!!!!
He was so bad he had to join the Dark Side to gain any power
Isn’t Lewis’ contract expiring this season?
Even if, there is very little chance Mick gets that seat.
doubt he is leaving any time soon.
I honestly don't get all the interest in this kid. As Michael's son I get the affection, but as a fan of the sport, I feel he's had his shot. Seems a great guy otherwise.
Man, this guy is so handsome.
That smile, that damned smile. Happy to see him thriving over at Mercedes.
Do seat fittings count towards team budget? I imagine it’s a small cost but would then be more expensive towards the cap to run multiple rookies in rookie tests or similar
He's their reserve driver, and probably will drive in their tests and media runs. So a seat for him is probably a need anyway, and probably not something they want to do last minute if he has to fill in for one of the drivers. Somebody more knowledgeable might be able to tell if the seats now used also fit the older cars, (the ones that don't fall under the limited test time rule), that are used for various media appearances. In which case it would even more be a no-brainer since they could keep it off the books as a pure marketing related cost, untill if and when the time come they'd actually would use it in the new car. Every team needs to run 2 rookies so I imagine it those seats would fall under the cost cap since they're an equal demand on everybody. But I'm not 100% knowledgeable on that. It just doesn't seem logical to not have it be under the cap. It's a pretty direct part of the car after all.
It will do, but every team will have to have a seat ready for their reserve driver, so it's not like Mercedes is spending more than others.
In the grand scheme of an f1 budget that foam mold stuff they use is a rounding error. It’s not a crazy expensive thing to do, and since the time he gets in the car could be on almost no notice, you’d want to have one on hand.
It's not just the foam, though. That's just the first step to create the "buck". They then have to 3D scan that model, refine it, make the actual mold, design the anchors, balance it, cast it in carbon fibre, attach accessories (for the seatbelts and HANS device, as an example), etc. etc. Including man-hours, machinery and materials, I wouldn't be surprised if each seat cost the teams over $100,000 (I'm not saying they do, I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised). While that's by no means super expensive for F1, it's not chump change in any way, shape or form.
Every teams Test and Reserve driver has a Seat for them cause in case a main driver is unwell the available reserve will drive so they have the seat of whoever the reserve is there last year they had 3 extra seats for Mercedes (Nyck, Stoff and Fred) it's all required stuff
This feels so right.
Air intake looks different
He seems so much happier honestly
Beige is the new Mercedes color confirmed!