Nico Hulkenberg to replace Mick Schumacher
Helmut Marko predicts Haas will cut ties with Mick Schumacher and replace him with Nico Hulkenberg for the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Mick Schumacher has been criticized a lot by his team over a number of things for some time, which, according to Marko, is a sign that he will be dropped by Haas at the end of the current season.
"When a team publicly criticizes a driver so massively, as was sometimes the case, it shows that there is no sign of trust," Marko told.
"The situation at Haas is that they have an experienced driver in (Kevin) Magnussen, and if there was a great up-and-coming talent, I would bet on him. But I don't see anyone at the moment who would have these requirements. And from a team perspective, there's a lot of money at stake in the constructors' world championship," Marko said.
"Whether you're tenth or eighth, that's a difference of millions of dollars. I assume that Haas will bet on a veteran."
The 'veteran' driver that is being mentioned is likely the 35-year-old Hulkenberg, who was recently quoted as saying he was "optimistic" that his "talks" with Haas about 2023 will be fruitful.
Hulkenberg currently works for Red Bull-owned broadcaster Servus TV as a pundit but has previously driven for a number of F1 teams - Williams (2010), Force India (2011-2012), Sauber (2013), Return to Force India (2014-2016), Renault (2017-2019), Racing Point (2020) and in 2021 joined Aston Martin as a reserve driver which is where he currently is.
"Hulkenberg has proved that he can jump into a car as a reserve driver without any test kilometers - into the cold water, so to speak - and always deliver.”
When speaking about Schumacher, Marko admitted the first half of the 2022 F1 season had not been good for the German driver and said: "There were serious accidents with a lot of equipment and monetary damage, which is of course a serious issue for teams. Then there were very good races in England and Austria and as a result, Schumacher improved significantly in the second half of the year,"
Marko thinks Schumacher will sit out 2023 as Ferrari's reserve driver.
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