With Mick Schumacher still showing signs of inexperience, the risks of Haas perpetrating to him for at least another year remain.
Follow Us
The Aston Martin Formula 1 team has signed Stoffel Vandoorne, the 2023 Formula E World Champion, as a test and backup driver. Vandoorne, a former McLaren driver who now drives for Mercedes as a reserve alongside Nyck de Vries in Formula One, won the FE championship in 2021-2022. With Williams hoping that rising American star Logan Sergeant can score enough points in the F2 season finale in Abu Dhabi to secure a Super Licence to race in F1, all eyes are on Haas to find out who will ally Kevin Magnussen next season.
A further two race weekends have gone with Guenther Steiner being questioned about who the mystery driver will be, but Aston Martin appears to have just given everyone a crucial hint. A false alarm was raised ahead of Haas’ home race in Austin, Texas, when the official statement of a press conference turned out to be the announcement of MoneyGram as the team’s new title sponsor.
Read more: Formula E World Champion signed by Aston Martin as their new reserve driver
With the exit of current reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg from Aston Martin after being replaced by Stoffel Vandoorne, will Haas consider signing Hulkenberg ? The vastly experienced ‘Hulk,’ with 181 starts to his name, the most recent of which came in the first two races of the 2022 season when deputizing for the ill Sebastian Vettel, was said to be in a 50-50 fight for the Haas seat with Mick Schumacher. We can likely make it 100-0 in Hulkenberg’s favor.
Hulkenberg to Haas does not feel like a stylish signing; rather, it feels safe and sensible. It suggests that Steiner and company are no longer willing to take the same risks they did when announcing two rookies in Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin ahead of the 2021 season.
With Schumacher still showing signs of inexperience, the risks of Haas perpetrating to him for at least another year remain. With Ferrari severing ties with Mick and the Haas seat seemingly gone, he appears to be the latest name to be chewed up and spat out by the F1 machine. It’s excruciating.
Maybe Mick will follow in Ricciardo’s footsteps and try to stay in F1 through a reserve role (which, coincidentally, has opened up for Ricciardo at Mercedes now Vandoorne has joined Aston Martin and Nyck de Vries is soon to be an AlphaTauri driver), or he will be very, very patient and wait until German outfit Audi join the grid in 2026.
