Schumacher 'comfortable' at Mercedes, not worried about future
Mick Schumacher believes he's in a "comfortable" position at Mercedes as the team's reserve driver this year, and that opportunities to return to the grid in 2024 will come his way.
Schumacher was picked up by Mercedes after he was left without a race seat for 2023 after two years with Haas.
The 23-year-old will attend all F1 races this season embedded with his new team and ready to step in to substitute for Lewis Hamilton or George Russell. But the young gun will also conduct development work in Mercedes' simulator at Brackley.
Schumacher is aiming to return to a full time seat in F1 next year, and he reckons that he's in the best possible place to spend a year on the sidelines.
"Well, there’s obviously no guarantee [that I return to the grid in 2024], but I’m in a comfortable position where I feel I can learn, I can extract the maximum from this year even though I’m not driving," he explained at his team's W14 car launch at Silverstone on Wednesday.
"But with the results I’ve shown in the junior categories, but also in F1, I’m sure there will be opportunities.
"Over the winter a few people have already mentioned that there is interest, so in that sense I’m not too worried."
While he won't be driving, Schumacher will follow his normal training regimen throughout the year.
"[I’ll] still probably take a very similar approach," he said. "I will be going into the weekend thinking as if I was going to race, to keep myself sharp.
"But also, because it is a very different year, I will try and see what I can learn from it, take away from this experience, and be as much of a help to the team as I can be.
"Partly because I have the experience of driving, but also, I have the mentality that I know how it is to approach a weekend. I will for sure keep the same approach and keep the excitement at a high."
©Mercedes
Schumacher's development work at Brackley will not only keep him active, but his tasks will also hopefully benefit Hamilton and Russell in terms of helping with the evolution over the course of the year of Mercedes' W14.
"Firstly, I do have the experience of driving last year’s car, which is the new generation," he said.
"That means the approaches that I will have in the simulator will be very similar to the ones the racing drivers will have on track.
"In terms of that direct comparison, I will be able to talk about time models, talk about how the car behaves or should behave and therefore will be able to change and adapt the simulator pretty quickly.
"Hopefully with that in mind, we’ll be able to give the team reliable feedback, but also a set of options that will work in the track."
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