Toto Wolff revealed his plan to give Mick Schumacher some time behind the wheel of a Mercedes Formula 1 car this year despite only being the team's reserve driver.
The German racer signed with the Silver Arrows in the winter after he was let go by Haas. He raced in F1 with the American team for two seasons, but had too many expensive crashes and scored too few points to secure a contract extension.
Wolff was only too happy to offer young Schumacher a role which would keep him in the F1 paddock. The Austrian made a point of referring to the fact his legendary father, seven-time world champion Michael, had helped to establish Mercedes on the grid in the twilight of his own career.
As reserve driver, Schumacher's job is to spend plenty of time in the simulator to assist with the development efforts on the W14. His only chance of racing the car this year will be if either Lewis Hamilton or George Russell are forced to miss a Grand Prix.
He is also unlikely to appear in any practice sessions. F1 rules force teams to replace their regular drivers with junior racers in FP1 at a minimum of two race weekends per year but, as Schumacher already has two years in F1 under his belt, he is too experienced to be eligible.
The last time they needed to replace a driver in a race, Russell was called up from Williams to stand in for Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. Wolff has made it clear that Schumacher will be their first choice if a similar situation arises this year.
The team boss also told Swiss outlet Blick that he plans to put Schumacher behind the wheel of a previous F1 car. He said: "If one of our drivers gets Covid or gets injured, Mick will be in the Mercedes. Period, end of discussion! We're trying to get an old car ready for him as soon as possible. This time, Mick would drive."
Wolff also made a point of voicing his disapproval of how Schumacher was treated at Haas. The Netflix Drive to Survive series showed several behind-the-scenes conversations during the 2022 season, in which team principal Guenther Steiner and owner Gene Haas were highly critical of the German.
"I'm looking out for the little one. I can only say that his parents did nothing wrong in bringing him up, said Wolff of Schumacher. "And I claim that if Michael had accompanied his son during the two Haas years, Steiner would not have dared to treat Mick like that!"
