Villeneuve highlights why no F1 team wants to sign Schumacher

Jacques Villeneuve feels that signing Mick Schumacher would constitute a risk for teams as they would be "hoping" he has improved since his Haas tenure.

The Canadian highlighted that despite Schumacher and his team's best efforts, "no one seems to be jumping to get him on their team".

After being released by Haas at the end of 2022, the German driver has dovetailed roles at Mercedes and Alpine.

Having immediately moved into a reserve and development driver role with the former, Schumacher also became part of the latter's endurance programme for the 2024 season, which saw him compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Despite two years on the F1 sidelines, the 25-year-old has maintained his goal is a return to a full-time race seat in the championship, and is in the running for the second seat at Alpine, alongside Pierre Gasly. However, Jack Doohan is believed to be the front-runner for the drive.

For Villeneuve, the root of the issue is Schumacher's time in F1, as the "evidence is there for everyone to see", according to the 1997 drivers' champion.

“It doesn’t seem like any team wants Mick Schumacher to drive for them," the 53-year-old told Instantcasino.com. "The push has been made by Mick and his team, but no one seems to be jumping to get him on their team.

"The problem is his years in F1 didn’t conclude in a positive way, he might be doing better and showing promise in the position he’s in, but the evidence is there for everyone to see.

"For teams, it’s worrisome, do they want to take the risk of hoping Mick is better than he was? It doesn’t look like it at the moment."

'It's because they want the Schumacher image...'

Schumacher endured a difficult two-year stint with Haas before being replaced after the 2022 F1 season by countryman Nico Hulkenberg.

The American squad produced the only car not capable of scoring points in his rookie campaign, but he handily beat team-mate Nikita Mazepin.

The following season, Schumacher found himself up against Haas veteran Kevin Magnussen. In addition to being overmatched by the Dane, he had a series of high-profile and costly crashes, something that also plagued him the year before.

Magnussen took points in nine races, including all three sprints, to Schumacher's two. In doing so, he outscored the German 25 points to 12.

Despite remaining popular with F1 fans, and some within the paddock, such as Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and former FIA president Jean Todt, arguing Schumacher is worthy of a second chance in F1, Villeneuve believes that his main draw is his name after his father's decorated career.

“If a team does employ Mick as an F1 driver, it’s because they want the Schumacher image and it’s in hope he’s better than he was at Haas," he said.