Franz Tost has confirmed he retained an interest in placing Mick Schumacher in one of the seats at AlphaTauri for 2023 but any potential move was blocked by several hurdling factors.
Schumacher lost his drive at Haas to Nico Hulkenberg at the end of last season, spelling an end to his Formula 1 career for the time being.
However, there could have been a dramatic twist in the driver market which would have resulted in the German ending up on this year’s grid after all.
When it became open knowledge that Alpine was in discussions to prize Pierre Gasly away to replace Fernando Alonso, an opening suddenly appeared at the Faenza-based outfit for this coming season alongside the retained figure of Yuki Tsunoda.
Eventually, the vacancy would be handed to Nyck De Vries, but, surprisingly, Tost has now revealed he actually held a preference towards Schumacher getting the seat.
“Mick is talented and also has what it takes to drive successfully in Formula 1”, Tost told German broadcaster RTL.
“I would have actually liked to have had Mick in the car.”
However, Tost’s interest was never followed up, with the long-time team boss stating that there were “other circumstances” and “political reasons” behind the decision to snub Schumacher.
It’s often been sighted that Tost exerts hardly any control during the decision-making process regarding who will drive for AlphaTauri; instead, those choices are usually made by the head of Red Bull’s driver development program, Helmut Marko.
Tost’s lack of influence on such rulings was made evident during 2022’s silly season by Alpine chief, Otmar Szafnauer, who declared his fellow team boss informed him of his wish to retain Gasly alongside Tsunoda and it was Marko who willingly opened negotiations.
The divisive talent scout was also responsible for hiring De Vries and it’s likely that the Dutchman was prioritised over Schumacher due to Marko seeking a placeholder rather than a long-term solution.
With the Red Bull academy fielding six of its drivers in the Formula 2 series this year and Liam Lawson competing in Super Formula, it can be expected that Marko has his eye on promoting one of those budding youngsters into an F1 race drive for 2023.
Schumacher has, however, since followed in the footsteps of his legendary father for a second time by heading to Mercedes to become their reserve driver, while the man he replaced in that role, De Vries, will be competing for AlphaTauri.
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