Ex-Haas boss Guenther Steiner has told Alpine to target the “best driver” possible to replace Esteban Ocon for the 2025 Formula 1 season and not Mick Schumacher.
Alpine is guaranteed to have at least one new driver in its line-up next season amid the announcement that Ocon will depart the team at the end of the current season.
Schumacher, who represents Alpine in the World Endurance Championship, is touted as an outside contender, with boss Bruno Famin having admitted he’s an option.
The German completed two seasons with Haas in 2021 and 2022, but numerous expensive crashes and the side’s desire to prioritise experience saw him be dropped.
Steiner, who was Schumacher’s team principal at Haas, has advised the Enstone-based squad to prioritise the greatest drivers on the F1 market such as Carlos Sainz.
When asked whether he wouldn’t consider Schumacher at this stage having name-dropped both Sainz and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, Steiner told the Red Flags podcast: “In the moment not, no.
“You need to get the best driver you know is out there. I think people which are showing that they’re very good.
“And as a works team, you need to do the best you can.”
There had been intense speculation over Ocon’s prospects with Alpine since the first-lap clash in Monaco with team-mate Pierre Gasly he was held responsible over.
Ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle warned the Frenchman that his unwelcome reputation for colliding with his team-mates could detract potential suitors from signing him.
But Steiner has argued that the past sour relationship between Ocon, who is now linked with a switch to Haas, and Gasly made accidents between the two inevitable.
“Obviously you think about it, absolutely you think about it, because it’s just something you don’t want,” Steiner explained regarding Ocon’s poor record with team-mates.
“And I always say, team-mates don’t need to be the best friends, they don’t need to go out for dinner, but they need to respect each other.
“Because in the end, but it’s generally in life, you need to respect other people.
“If you don’t like to drive with this guy in your team, just go somewhere else.
“If I don’t like to be somewhere, I move on. I’m not trying to fight it at the cost of somebody else, which is the team.
“So one of them should have said, ‘I cannot be in the team with this other guy’, and somebody else maybe should have seen that.
“Everybody knows about the history of the two of them and even their parents apparently, they had to keep them apart.
“That’s not what you want when you’re going, ‘Oh, we will be team-mates, yeah it’s all good, we just fought the last 20 years, but now that’s all good’, you know?”
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