Mercedes backup driver Mick Schumacher acknowledged that while he isn’t actually interested in switching to Formula E at the moment, he wouldn’t fully rule it out in his future plans.
After Mick Schumacher left Haas after the 2022 season for the reason his contract wasn’t extended, he spent 2023 on a reserve role with the Mercedes F1 team.
It is widely anticipated that he is going to race in the World Endurance Championship in Alpine’s Hypercar program next year, while a return to the F1 grid in 2024 appears improbable.
Former Formula 1 drivers and active F1 reserve drivers have found refuge in Formula E over the years. The all-electric series is currently beginning to seem like a more appealing choice for drivers in Formula 2 and Formula 3.
Six former Formula 1 drivers—Stoffel Vandoorne, Jean-Éric Vergne, Sébastian Buemi, Pascal Wehrlein, Lucas di Grassi, and Nyck de Vries—make up the season 10 grid. At the conclusion of season eight, De Vries exited Formula E to finalize his transfer to AlphaTauri; however, their partnership lasted for only ten races.
After his brief tenure in Formula 1 with the Mahindra Racing team, the Season Seven World Champion has chosen to return to Formula E racing.
Jake Hughes, Dan Ticktum, Sérgio Sette Câmara, and Maximilian Günther are among the former F2 stars who are beginning to make an appearance on the Formula E outlook. They all came straight from the feeder series into the all-electric series.
Jehan Daruvala is the most recent driver to make the switch being the sole rookie on the grid for the sport’s tenth campaign. Also Taking a look at the variety of F2 and F3 young drivers who have recently taken part in various FE tests, this is sufficient evidence that Formula E is starting to appeal to drivers looking to transition out of their junior careers.
Taylor Barnard marks the most recent Formula E driver to successfully complete a test after he accomplished this at the most recent official pre-season test, courtesy of the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team. Barnard won a race at Spa-Francorchamps during his debut F3 campaign.
Formula 3 driver Hugh Barter is another prospect who participated in a FE test the previous year, thanks to Maserati MSG Racing’s Berlin rookie test.
Victor Martins and Zane Maloney are another two young talents from F2 making an appearance in the paddock primarily because of their affiliations with Andretti and Nissan, respectively.
F1 legend Michael Schumacher’s son freely acknowledges that despite Formula E being a successful path for former drivers and future stars, it’s not the right career move for him at this time because he simply can’t get enough of the smell of gasoline.
“To be completely honest: no,” Schumacher admitted in an interview with TuttoMotori. “I like combustion engines, I like the smell of petrol.
“Unfortunately, Formula E is not the right thing for me at the moment.”
Although Schumacher isn’t planning on participating in Formula E’s season 11, he is not willing to rule out racing in the all-electric series in the future, particularly given that motorsports in general is still working to move away from internal combustion engines.
Schumacher is still primarily interested in participating in championships where the engine makes noise with bursts of fire, but such are getting harder to come by.
“But who knows what the future will bring,” he added. “If that’s what we can still drive then, I’ll obviously have to set my expectations a little differently.
“But I love the old-school cars: V10, V8, when it smells and bangs and fires, and so on.
“That’s what I’m really interested in.”
