Are Mercedes a ‘Plan B’ option for Schumacher in F1 2023? 

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport claim that Schumacher is Mercedes’s first choice for next season in the event that he loses his Haas seat and Daniel Ricciardo goes elsewhere. 

Following his early exit from McLaren after the team bought out the final year of his contract in response to his underwhelming displays, Ricciardo is seeking a reserve driver role with a view to returning to the F1 grid on a full-time basis from 2024. 

The Australian has held talks with Mercedes and Red Bull after finding himself with limited competitive options for a race seat in 2023. 

AMuS reports that Alpine are also interested in Schumacher, with the French outfit in need of a replacement for the McLaren-bound Oscar Piastri. Their junior Jack Doohan set to focus on F2 next year. 

Haas aim to confirm 2023 line-up by Abu Dhabi 

• Schumacher or Hulkenberg? Who will get the final F1 2023 seat? 

Haas are hoping to announce their second driver for 2023 before next week’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. 

Schumacher appears to be in a straight battle with Nico Hulkenberg for the sole-remaining seat alongside Kevin Magnussen at Haas next year. 

“I think we can wrap it up pretty quickly,” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner told reporters on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix. “Hopefully next week we can announce something, whatever we’re doing.

“Hopefully, that’s my objective, but I don’t promise it. I hope before [Abu Dhabi]. When I say, ‘I hope,’ it’s not a fact.

“No [a decision hasn’t been made]. It’s imminent. I’m pretty busy at the moment… I’m a slow thinker! We wanted to make sure that we take the right decision.

“There are no seats out there anymore; why would we be in a hurry to announce it? We need to do it before the Bahrain test next year basically, because we want to have the driver which drives next year in the car in the Bahrain test. 

“That’s the only thing we want to do, and the rest we want to try to make the best decision we can, and sometimes time helps to make your decisions.”