Will Schumacher get to drive Mercedes' W14 F1 car?
Schumacher, the son of legendary seven-time world champion Michael, has joined Mercedes as their reserve driver for 2023 after losing his Haas seat to Nico Hulkenberg and splitting from Ferrari.
The 23-year-old German will act as a backup for Mercedes regulars Lewis Hamilton and George Russell throughout the campaign.
Schumacher is due to attend every grand prix and will also be available to Mercedes customer McLaren in the event Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri cannot race, but the bulk of his work will be spent in the simulator at Brackley.
Schumacher recently completed a seat fitting at Mercedes and McLaren but Auto Motor und Sport report that Mercedes won’t give him any running during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
With just three days of running to prepare for the new season, Hamilton and Russell will split driving duties between them in Bahrain.
Hamilton and Russell will also divide time in the new W14 during its first shakedown at Silverstone following Mercedes’ launch on February 15.
Mercedes are using the shakedown as one of their two permitted filming days for 2023, both of which are limited to 100km.
FP1 runs are also out of the equation for Schumacher, given he does not meet the terms of the mandatory rookie running due to completing more than two grand prix starts in his F1 career.
Therefore, it appears Schumacher’s only chance of driving Mercedes’ W14 challenger will come if Hamilton or Russell are ruled out of a session.
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