Mick Schumacher Joins Mercedes As A 2023 Season Reserve Driver

Mick Schumacher is officially the backup driver of the Mercedes GP F1. (Photo: Instagram/@f1)

JAKARTA - Mercedes officially appointed Mick Schumacher, son of Michael Schumacher, as their reserve rider for the 2023 season.

Mercedes' announcement comes less than an hour after Ferrari confirmed they had separated from Mick, who was previously part of their rider's academy.

"Mick is someone who is always close to our hearts because of Michael or the entire Schumacher family," said Mercedes chief, Totto Wolf.

"He (Mick) is a young man who is intelligent and polite. He is very successful in the junior formula. We believe that we can keep him if the situation occurs and with someone who fits the team," he added.

Mick will be a reserve for the team's main riders, namely Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Mick replaces the role of Nyck de Vries who joined AlphaTauri.

The son of the seven-time Formula 1 world champion lost his seat in the Haas team after two seasons there. His position in Haas is now being replaced by Nico minimumenberg for the 2023 season.

Previously, Daniel Ricciardo was associated with the position, but he returned to Red Bull as their third rider to pave the way for Mick.

Joining Mercedes is certainly the most special thing for Mick. The reason is, his father has spent his last three seasons as an F1 rider with Mercedes.

"I think he deserves a place and now we have to see if we can do something," Wolf said.

Schumacher joined Ferrari's academy in 2019. Since then, there has been hope that he can follow in the footsteps made by his father.

After failing to score points with Haas' car in his debut campaign, Schumacher shows signs of a revival in 2022.

He finished eighth and sixth in consecutive races at Silverstone and the Austrian Grand Prix. However, he was unable to increase this number and lost to his teammate Kevin Magnussen by 13 points.