Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

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Not being dead last was a lot to expect when they had 1 driver actually likely to score something and 1 just around so the bills get paid.
 

Schumacher joins Mercedes as Reserve Driver​

Matt Coch
Friday 16th December, 2022 - 8:25am
[ original | archive ]

Mick Schumacher has been announced as Reserve Driver for the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

Confirmation came shortly after Ferrari announced it had ended its relationship with the German by mutual consent.

“I am thrilled to be part of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team as their Reserve Driver for 2023, and I am committed to give it my all to contribute to their performance in this very competitive and professional environment,” Schumacher said.

“I take this as a new start, and I am just excited and grateful to Toto and everybody involved for putting their trust in me. F1 is such a fascinating world, and you never stop learning, so I look forward to absorbing more knowledge and putting in all my efforts for the benefit of the Mercedes team.”

The second-generation racer lost his place on the grid for 2023 after Haas opted for Nico Hulkenberg.

Guenther Steiner said at the time that his team needed a driver with greater experience.

Schumacher enjoyed support from Ferrari through the latter part of his junior career, extending into Formula 1 where he remained part of its Academy programme.

That has now concluded, with Ferrari confirming they have “mutually decided not to extend their collaboration, after working together for four years.”

It was expected that Schumacher would exit the Ferrari Driver Academy given it is designed to aid with the progression to F1.

Charles Leclerc was a member of the programme up to the point he reached the sport’s zenith with Alfa Romeo Sauber in 2018.

Schumacher’s arrival at Mercedes was also expected as the Anglo-German marque had something of a clearing of house in the latter part of 2022 as far as drivers go.

Nyck de Vries had completed Reserve Driver duties but has since signed on to Scuderia AlphaTauri as race driver for 2023.

Formula E world champion and ex-McLaren racer Stoffel Vandoorne also exited the team in favour of a Reserve Driver role at Aston Martin.

Ironically, that move precipitated Nico Hulkenberg’s signing at Haas, which spelled the end of Schumacher’s time on the grid – at least for now.

“Mick is a talented young driver and we’re delighted to have him join the team,” said Toto Wolff, Team Principal at Mercedes.

“He is a hard worker, has a calm and methodical approach and is still hungry to learn and improve as a driver.

“These are all important qualities, and we’re excited for him to help us develop the W14.

“We also know that with two years of experience racing in Formula 1 under his belt, he will be ready to step into the car at short notice to replace either Lewis or George, should that need arise.”

As part of his new role, Schumacher will be trackside for all events in 2023 as well as completing simulator work for the operation.

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At least Mick is still in F1's orbit. Possibly as a succession plan for when Hambone retires. Will be interesting to see if Mick is expected to be George's water boy when/if he gets a drive.
 
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That's good. Ferrari made a major mistep (when don't they) sending Schumacher off to Haas alongside the Rusky in a car that was dead last before they had a season of zero development. What was that nonsense ever going to do for his development? They should have flushed Gio a season early and put him along side Rikonen, now that would have helped him develop.

Hopefully he can find his home at Mercedes, as much as I dislike Toto he knows the game and doesn't fuck up every decision presented to him unlike Ferrari.
 
God i cannot wait for the day oil is worthless and all of these sandboxes go bankrupt.
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Coccxys said:
That's good. Ferrari made a major mistep (when don't they) sending Schumacher off to Haas alongside the Rusky in a car that was dead last before they had a season of zero development. What was that nonsense ever going to do for his development? They should have flushed Gio a season early and put him along side Rikonen, now that would have helped him develop.
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Whilst that would have been nice for Mick to be further down the development road by now, at least this isn't the end of F1 career. If Nyck de Vries can get his first full time F1 drive at 27, there's hope for Mick.
 
Pee Cola said:
Whilst that would have been nice for Mick to be further down the development road by now, at least this isn't the end of F1 career. If Nyck de Vries can get his first full time F1 drive at 27, there's hope for Mick.
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I know Mick's a good race driver but what really separates him from the countless good race drivers in the lower formulas and the drivers transferring from other open wheel series (Indycar)? He has his father's name and has won a formula 2 title which are both huge factors, but there are a lot of great drivers who have won different series and then dropped off. I'm not meaning to be in any way disparaging but it could end at any point.
 
Spaz-12 said:
I know Mick's a good race driver but what really separates him from the countless good race drivers in the lower formulas and the drivers transferring from other open wheel series (Indycar)? He has his father's name and has won a formula 2 title which are both huge factors, but there are a lot of great drivers who have won different series and then dropped off. I'm not meaning to be in any way disparaging but it could end at any point.
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I think what stood out to me about Mick is he won that F2 title without taking a single pole. His title came from race craft and relentless consistency. He isn't the fastest over a single lap but excells at overtaking and taking what he can from a race. We did see glimpses of his racecraft but that car and their strategies were never going to hilight that.
 
quaawaa said:
That was a good video, but I couldn't help but notice that one driver was missing...
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Bloois never participates in any of the fun little videos. Probably thinks it would ruin his street cred with the murica blacks he's desperate to be the cool kid with.

quaawaa said:
The FIA has banned drivers from making political statements:
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This will absolutely not be enforced evenly and we all know which political messages will be allowed.
 
Oh god the twitter seeth over the new FIA ruling is insane. Can you people not go 10 seconds without some asshole telling you what to think? Maybe try some escapism once in a while. No wonder all these fuckers are depressed and anxious, they force themselves into a constant heightened state of awareness.
 
Coccxys said:
Oh god the twitter seeth over the new FIA ruling is insane. Can you people not go 10 seconds without some asshole telling you what to think? Maybe try some escapism once in a while. No wonder all these fuckers are depressed and anxious, they force themselves into a constant heightened state of awareness.
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The cynical view of this is it's all happening once the BLM stuff's run its course more or less and it's designed to suppress any backlash.
 
Coccxys said:
Oh god the twitter seeth over the new FIA ruling is insane. Can you people not go 10 seconds without some asshole telling you what to think? Maybe try some escapism once in a while. No wonder all these fuckers are depressed and anxious, they force themselves into a constant heightened state of awareness.
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Wonder if they'd be so supportive if one of the drivers came out and said abortions are wrong, or Ukraine belongs to Putin.
 
Coccxys said:
Bloois never participates in any of the fun little videos. Probably thinks it would ruin his street cred with the murica blacks he's desperate to be the cool kid with.



This will absolutely not be enforced evenly and we all know which political messages will be allowed.
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Not enforced evenly might be the case. Prepare to never see any BLM message in any Arab country (or Alphabet message in this regard either) That is what you get when you let Arabs run the show. Just like putting Saudi arabia in the UN convention for women's rights.

Also in regartds to the rule modifications (again): you guys think one team will pull a joker of a car? Or do we get a season with more or less identical looking cars now? This year we had Ferrari with it's elegant nose and swimmingpool sidepods, Mercedes with basically no sidepods, RedBull with a more classic car. and most teams later converted their cars more in line with RedBuzll as far as I saw it (save Mercedes, Ferrari and Haas). I think Mercedes will drop the "no sidepod" concept but I wonder if Ferrari will go another route. their design seemed to be a good direction (well until the rule changes happened and they upgraded the "wrong way"
 
Balr0g said:
Or do we get a season with more or less identical looking cars now?
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I think they will look broadly similar with merc probably dropping their "genius" design. I think the rule change about the throat of the diffuser may impact red bull the most because that was where Newey had worked his genius to give them that speed without the lowrida bounce.

I think it's probably going to be a Red Bull v Mercedes year with Ferrari being clear best of the rest but not really challenging. They put too many eggs into developing the 22 car which was neerfed hard in the mid-season technical directive. Unfortunately I doubt they will recover back to the top over winter.

As exciting as 21 was I really don't want a Max v Hambone season because my god do the media and every social platform because a toxic hellscape when hambone is battling anyone.
 
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