Helmut Marko suggests Mick Schumacher to Sauber: “Bottas renewal is difficult to understand”. Helmut Marko feels that Sauber should give Mick Schumacher a chance.

Sauber without a driver
Analyzing the 2025 starting grid, the only team that hasn’t yet completed its lineup is Sauber, which will come under Audi’s control in 2026. The Swiss team can count on a new entry like Nico Hülkenberg, coming from Haas, but the name of his future teammate is still unknown. However, there are many candidates: from Hinwil’s current reserve driver, Theo Pourchaire, to a possible renewal of Zhou Guanyu or Valtteri Bottas, who make up the 2024 season lineup.

Marko ‘votes’ for Mick Schumacher
Regarding the Finnish driver, the former Mercedes pilot, Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s advisor, expressed his opinion. The Austrian manager believes that Sauber should give Mick Schumacher, previously in F1 with Haas in 2021-2022 and now a third driver for Mercedes, as well as racing in the WEC with Alpine, a chance: “I think the Audi car certainly won’t be a winning one next year,” he stated in an interview with RTL/ntv and sport.de. “That means there won’t be pressure on either Audi or the driver. It would be a good comparison with Nico Hülkenberg, and if his performances are not up to par, they can always make a change for 2026.” – he pointed out.

Bottas still in Sauber: opinions and consequences
However, despite all the options available to Sauber, the latest rumors seem to point towards a renewal for Valtteri Bottas. A choice that doesn’t convince Marko at all: “I’m not exactly sure, but if this is really the situation, then the whole matter is even more incomprehensible to me,” he added. “I think that if Mick Schumacher doesn’t get this seat, his Formula 1 story is over. He should focus on endurance racing, where he’s been very successful, and do that. If he stays in motorsport, he’ll have to find something he enjoys but that also gives him a chance to win.”

Mick Schumacher keeps believing
Meanwhile, until Audi chooses its second driver for 2025, Michael Schumacher’s son still hopes for a return to Formula 1, as he confessed to Sky Deutschland: “We have to wait and see what happens,” he said. “I’ll deal with it when the time comes, and plan A doesn’t work. Plan B must be in my mind. At the moment, I don’t know how it will end. Formula 1 is the big goal, it always has been and always will be. That’s why everything else has to be on hold for now. The options that exist alongside it have to wait.”