F1 Blog: a big twist around Schumacher? The German racer may be leaving Haas to replace Fernando Alonso. What about Ricciardo?

Comment: Formula 1 is slowly but surely returning to action after its long and obligatory summer break. And the things that happened in it were indeed many. The transfer merry-go-round has been in full swing, with one speculation after another literally whizzing out of the queen of motorsport over the past month. And one of them is about Mick Schumacher…

Sebastian Vettel has announced the end of his career, Fernando Alonso has said he’ll don the Aston Martin overalls from next season, Oscar Piastri has turned down a seat at Alpine and McLaren has hinted it is no longer counting on Daniel Ricciardo.

The things that happened in Formula 1 over the summer break were many. But these events are the most important with regard to one very hot transfer speculation.

And that concerns the future of Schumacher, who is still without a contract with the Haas team for next year. In addition, there are rumours in Formula 1 that his links with Ferrari have been tarnished and this connection is beginning to weaken greatly.

So, after Alonso confirmed that he would no longer be donning the overalls from next season, Alpine were clear on who they would put in the cockpit alongside Esteban Ocon. The French stable has thus officially confirmed Piastri for the 2023 season, without, however, giving any sort of deal to the young and very talented driver.

Piastri’s subsequent reaction was such that he made it clear via social media that he will definitely not be riding for Alpine in the upcoming season.

As a result, speculation began across the queen of motorsport that Alpine would engage McLaren’s Ricciardo as co-driver. However, he is certainly not shining in the British stable and his best finish this season is 6th place from the Australian Grand Prix. Moreover, Laurent Rossi’s team is likely to look for a cheaper and more promising option for the future.

Ricciardo as the number 1 alternative?

Ocon is clearly the team’s number one and, on the political F1 field, the proud bearer of the French flag for Team Alpine. The 25-year-old has been with the team since the 2020 season and even signed a multi-year contract extension last year.

So this place is definitely taken for a while. So the question is, who will Rossi sit next to him? One possibility is the aforementioned Ricciardo.

However, the thirty-three-year-old former Red Bull driver would have to take a significant pay cut. His form has been very poor indeed, and so even he will be happy if he gets a seat in Formula 1 at all. On the other hand, he would also bring considerable know-how to Alpine, which could be a desirable thing in a battle with McLaren for the Constructors’ Cup position.

And if Ricciardo were to restart his career somewhere, it would be with the French Alpine F1 team.

A bad start, first points at Silverstone and a great result in Austria

The other realistic option for Alpine is 23-year-old Schumacher. He has struggled in his first year in Formula 1, but that can be attributed to a very poor performance in last year’s Haas. This year, however, the son of the famous legend has not started well at all.

Especially if we remember the big crash in Saudi Arabia, or when he cut his car in half in Monaco. And perhaps even worse, he performed worse than his teammate Kevin Magnussen.

But then came something that finally made him “recover”. He scored his first career points at Silverstone, finishing eighth, and followed that up with a great race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, finishing sixth.

He has 12 points this year, seven fewer than Ricciardo currently has at McLaren. According to the latest reports, he is reportedly being pursued by Rossi himself and should have enough experience for Alpine in his third season.

Schumacher as a cheaper and more promising option?

However, he would be a much more promising option for Alpine in the future. Mick is, after all, a young and talented driver, who drove the last races of the first part of the season quite reasonably.

It’s also a great opportunity for Schumacher at the moment. As we wrote above, his connection with Ferrari is weakening and even with the future in mind, it is unrealistic that he will even get a chance in the Italian stable. So breaking away from Ferrari is probably the only chance he has to successfully kick-start his career.

Haas is also a very small team, constantly mired in financial problems and struggling to find sponsors. This is also probably why Ferrari sees potential talent work more in Alfa Romeo, which not only has much more resources, but also a more stable background.

The American stable also wants to wait until September to negotiate a new contract. Former driver Jean Alesi says Schumacher has put the worst behind him and will now be a better and better driver. We’ll have to wait for more information on this big saga, but one thing is already pretty certain.

Ocon’s teammate next year will be either Ricciardo or Schumacher. These are the two most realistic alternatives, and if Alpine really wants to move forward, they simply have to look far into the future.

F1 Insider, Haas F1 Team