Mick Schumacher “will soon take the lead”

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Mick Schumacher will most likely drive for the Haas Formula 1 team in 2021. The hottest team-mate contenders are the Russian youngster Nikita Masepin and Sergio Perez. Both would bring millions in sponsorship money. But for Schumacher, another team might have been the better training place.

Marc Surer admits, for example, “that I would have preferred to see him at Alfa Romeo too. Because the Sauber team has a good reputation for developing young drivers. I don’t know how things work at Haas,” said Formula 1 -Expert in a video interview that was published on Sunday, among other things, on the YouTube channels of Motorsport-Total.com and Formel1.de.

“One thing is clear,” says Surer: “That he belongs in Formula 1, now that he is leading in Formula 2. He has improved in Formula 2, he wins races, is now very confident. Now he is ready for Formula 1. It belongs in Formula 1. I think we agree on that. “

And even if the constellation at Alfa Romeo had been perfect (team boss Frederic Vasseur is an outspoken specialist in training young drivers, and in Kimi Räikkönen he would have had an experienced, but beatable team-mate), Surer also sees positive aspects in the Haas B scenario .

For example the likely team mate Masepin, whom Schumacher currently has under control in Formula 2: “He will probably take on the leadership role in the team very soon. It would be better if he had someone next to him who he could learn from. Perez would be surely great, or Hulkenberg. “

“On the other hand: He’ll be able to beat Masepin. Then he actually looks pretty good. And if Haas is doing a little better than this year, then they’ll say: ‘Yes, you see? They’d already had the old two a long time ago then they would have gone further ahead. ‘ That can only come out positively. “

Surer believes that Haas has “the worst car at the moment” in Formula 1. That is precisely what could have advantages for a pure rookie team: “This is the moment when you can deploy young drivers and train them for the following year. From that point of view, Haas does everything right.”

It also makes sense for Schumacher to move closer to the team. In England he is presumably more calm from intrusive journalists than in Switzerland. For Sabine Kehm, the British trade press is probably easier to keep under control than the German boulevard, for which Hinwil would have been a stone’s throw.

Apart from that, it was obviously important for Sauber’s main sponsor, Alfa Romeo, to continue to have an Italian in the cockpit occupied by Ferrari. Antonio Giovinazzi is the only Italian in Formula 1. “Then you have a Finnish and a German driver,” says Surer. Maybe that’s why they said: “We need a reference to Italy.”

Having a car brand like Alfa Romeo as a sponsor is “great” for the Sauber team, emphasizes the Swiss: “That’s also good for Formula 1. So you have to try to keep them happy, even if the mood is stop means that you need an Italian driver, then yes, why not? “

By the way: The whole interview with Marc Surer (55 minutes) is available in full as a “Starting-Grid” podcast, on iTunes or directly from our cooperation partner meinsportpodcast.de. Further video clips from the podcast have been published on the YouTube channels of Motorsport-Total.com and Formel1.de in the past few days.