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Red Bull rejected the suggestion of hiring Mick Schumacher at AlphaTauri last season and went for Nyck de Vries instead.
That is the latest revelation from Franz Tost, the outgoing team principal of the sister Red Bull team.
Last season there was a vacancy at the sister team near the end of the season. That vacancy was opened up because Pierre Gasly left the Red Bull program to join Alpine.
At the same time, Mick Schumacher was also out of contract as Haas had opted to go for Nico Hulkenberg instead. In a recent interview, Franz Tost told Formel1.de that he had suggested the young German's name.
However, as it turns out, the name did not get the approval and was rejected by Red Bull. Instead, the team opted to go for Nyck de Vries who had impressed in his debut race at Williams. Talking about the driver selection, Tost revealed,
“It was like that, that Mick Schumacher didn’t get a cockpit for this year. It was then open to us after this Pierre Gasly story came to light because it was actually clear to me originally that our driver pairing will be Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda.”
He added,
“Then suddenly Pierre was awarded to Alpine, and that gave us a place. Until Monza, it was completely unclear who would be our driver. And then, logically, I thought of Mick Schumacher. We’re driving with Nyck de Vries […] and there’s actually nothing more to discuss.”
Red Bull chief was criticized for not picking Mick Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher had earlier in the season criticized Helmut Marko for not picking Mick Schumacher at AlphaTauri. In an interview with Formel1.de, Ralf had stated that it was Helmut Marko that vetoed Franz Tost's suggestion and claimed,
“Franz Tost, as the team manager and team principal, initially wanted a different driver because he knows that it takes two to three years [to get new drivers up to speed]. The driver available on the market was Mick. Mick would have made sense as well."
"But then Dr. Helmut Marko came along and, for personal reasons or whatever it may be, didn’t want that and chose Nyck de Vries instead.”
It does make for an interesting conversation on how Mick Schumacher would have fared at AlphaTauri this season. Especially considering the fact the Nyck de Vries hasn't really set the world on fire in the first seven races with the team.
