Racing Point Keeping an Eye on Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi For Future Prospects

For the 2020 season, the SportPesa Racing Point Formula One team are fielding the same line-up. However, team principal Otmar Szafnauer has confessed that he is looking towards the team’s future. In other words, he is eyeing younger drivers to race for them in the near future.

Racing Point’s current drivers, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll will undoubtedly stay on for another couple of years at least. In fact, Perez’s contract will see him in the pink overalls until at least the end of 2022. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll’s seat is pretty much secure, since his father Lawrence Stroll owns the team.

However, Szafnauer is still in the market for any potential new recruits, as Perez is 29 and fairly old. Among the potential candidates are Ferrari Academy driver Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi. While Schumacher is going nowhere for now, Latifi is widely tipped to take Robert Kubica’s vacated seat at Williams for 2020.

“We have quite a few drivers in mind,” Szafnauer said to Speedweek.com. “We look at how they beat each other in the junior series. We even wrote an analysis program in which we record all the results. Well, that does not allow a perfect judgment, but it’s a guide.

“Everyone in the Formula 1 is watching attentively what Mick Schumacher is doing. There are some pretty good guys. We also had Nicholas Latifi in our car.”

With one eye on the future, the Racing Point F1 boss is confident that 21-year old Stroll can improve and be a better racer. So far, Lance Stroll has ticked all the right boxes, and Szafnauer is happy with his development.

“Lance Stroll is a smart guy, still very young. His starts really are a show,” he added. “But he is still learning, especially in tyre management. He had bad luck a few times.

“He usually starts well, as I said, but then two opponents get in front of him and he runs out of pace.”