Mick Schumacher stays silent on shaky Formula One future

Mick Schumacher declined several opportunities on Thursday to discuss his future in Formula One amid speculation he'll be dropped by Haas at end of season.

son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher is in his second season with Haas, where he was promoted to from Ferrari Driver Academy. He's been associated with Ferrari since 2019 after winning European F3 championship.

Schumacher's contract with academy is set to expire at end of this year and Haas, which has an engine partnership with Ferrari, would t be obligated to keep 23-year-old German if Schumacher is longer part of program.

Schumacher was asked ahead of Dutch Grand Prix if he planned to stay at Haas for a third season; if he was talking to or teams; and, “what do you see as pros and cons of what you do going forward?”

He skirted all three questions.

“I see pros that I will be racing this weekend and weekend after and hopefully in Singapore and Suzuka and races to come,” Schumacher said at Circuit Zandvoort. “I'm excited for this weekend and our car should be quite strong and hopefully I will be able to score some points.”

Schumacher remained stone-faced when asked directly if he wanted to speak about his 2023 plans, and passed on two or questions about his future. first asked about any conversations he’s had about remaining part of Ferrari Driver Academy.

“I think in that sense what is being discussed behind scenes between us is something that is between us, and I would rar keep between us and t speak publicly,” he said.

Schumacher later said “that’s contractual matters, which I can’t go into detail with," when asked about his future on F1 grid. If Haas does t retain Schumacher for next season and he's unable to find ar seat, grid would lose both its German drivers because four-time champion Sebastian Vettel is retiring.

Schumacher was publicly put on tice earlier this season by Haas team principal Guenr Steiner to pick up his performance. He missed second race of season when he crashed in Saudi Arabia and was taken briefly to hospital for evaluation. Schumacher also crashed out at Monaco.

He at last scored first F1 points of his career in July at British Grand Prix by finishing eighth at Silverstone. Schumacher was sixth next race in Austria and has a total of 12 points. Kevin Magnussen, who returned to Haas this season after a one-year parting, leads F1's only American team with 22 points.

Schumacher, meanwhile, has regressed since his back-to-back breakout races. He was 15th in France, 14th in Hungary and 17th last week in Belgium. Schumacher ranks 15th in 20-driver standings.

Should he lose his current seat, re aren't a ton of options for Schumacher. Daniel Ricciardo has been bought out of his contract at McLaren and is looking for a job and McLaren is hoping to win a fight with Alpine to use Oscar Piastri, Alpine reserve driver, to fill Ricciardo's seat.

Alpine wants Piastri for seat opening when Fernando Alonso leaves to replace Vettel at Aston Martin.

Schumacher did receive one endorsement on Thursday when Alpine driver Esteban Ocon said he's made it clear to team that Schumacher is his choice to replace Alonso.

“My choice if I had anything to say would be Mick if he doesn't have anything lined up for next year,” Ocon said. "Mick is a good friend of mine, so if I can help on that, that's problem. I think he has shown talents in junior categories.

“He's been very fast, you kw, sometimes in Formula One. It's t easy to perform with a car that's a bit on backfoot, and he's a great guy and he could perform very well if he joined a competitive car and at moment Alpine is competitive.”