Former team boss Günther Steiner advises Alpine against signing Mick Schumacher. The German driver served under Steiner at Haas for two years. Now that Alpine has ended its collaboration with Esteban Ocon, Schumacher emerges as a potential replacement. However, Steiner’s advice is clear: ‘Don’t do it.’
At first glance, it seems logical that Mick Schumacher would be considered for a seat at Alpine. The 25-year-old driver is currently working for the French WEC team and has considerable Formula 1 experience. Moreover, being the son of the legendary Michael Schumacher, he undoubtedly brings a significant amount of sponsorship money. However, if it were up to Günther Steiner, the young German would not get another spot in Formula 1.
“At this moment, he is not the right choice,” said the analyst on The Red Flags Podcast. “You should always go for the best drivers. Those are the guys who can prove themselves on the track.” According to Steiner, Mick Schumacher does not fall into this category. Other realistic options for the team from Enstone include Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu. Reserve driver Jack Doohan seems to be the most obvious replacement at the moment.
Gasly versus Ocon
Steiner is not surprised that Esteban Ocon has to make way. The analyst saw how the Frenchman almost pushed his teammate off the track in Monaco. The former team boss knows better than anyone what it’s like to have two fighters in one team. “Of course, teammates don’t have to be best friends,” he said about the tense relationship between Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
“But you have to be able to respect each other,” he continued sternly. “If you can’t drive next to each other, it just becomes very costly for the team. Someone should have seen long ago that they (Gasly and Ocon) are not a good combination. You can’t just become teammates if you’ve been fighting with each other for the past twenty years.”
