Despite 7 Titles & 91 Race Wins, Michael Schumacher Couldn’t Replicate Mick’s Latest Move in 1998

Haas unceremoniously dropped Mick Schumacher after two forgettable seasons. For the 2023 season, a team for which his father also once drove rescued him; Mercedes. He joined Mercedes as a reserve driver and the Schumacher name was back at Brackley and Brixworth. But when we are drawing commonality, Mercedes isn’t the only intersection the careers of the father-son have. An almost intersection came to light when Mick was announced as McLaren‘s reserve driver also, for 2023.

Michael Schumacher was a double world champion by 1995. After winning two championships with Benetton, he made an unconventional switch to Ferrari in 1996. Mika Hakkinen and senior Schumacher shared one of the greatest rivalries. Their fights for wins and poles respectably have sure gone down in history. But what many don’t know is that there were talks of them becoming teammates in 1998.

In Beyond The Grid podcast, Norbert Haug, former boss of Mercedes, had told that in 1998 there were secret negotiations to bring Schumacher into the same team as Mika Hakkinen. He said, “There were some secret negotiations in 1998, but they never came together… In theory, it could have happened, but it didn’t happen. It wasn’t something completely impossible because we [McLaren] we were really strong in ’98 with the new car, Adrian Newey’s car. It was attractive to any driver.”

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The Schumacher name that could have belonged to McLaren eventually found its way to the Woking-based outfit 25 years later.

Mick Schumacher to Mclaren, in a reserve role

Mick Schumacher, who lost out one F1 seat, recently got seat fitting done for two F1 teams for the 2023 season. Mercedes, McLaren’s engine provider, reached an agreement with them to share their reserve driver. This was previously done with Nyck de Vries, who also played the reserve role for multiple teams.

Mick Schumacher, on his good days, gave a fight to the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen. Sadly, the American team did not appreciate his potential and Nico Hulkenberg replaced him. However, the importance of having a reserve driver with a good amount of track experience hasn’t been discounted, hence the said arrangement.

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With Mick playing a crucial role for two elite teams, a return as a full-time driver is not far off. What do you think the future holds for the junior Schumacher?