Wolff: Schumacher feedback gives Mercedes a “super advantage” 

Schumacher, who took up a Mercedes reserve driver role after losing his Haas race seat at the end of 2022, has been praised by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for the role he played in helping the team turn around their Spanish Grand Prix weekend. 

The son of legendary seven-time world champion Michael has been lauded by Mercedes boss Wolff, who has claimed rival F1 teams are “missing out” by not employing Schumacher. 

“It’s great to have a mature, successful and experienced Formula 1 driver supporting us in the sim and with his feedback, that is of tremendous advantage,” Wolff said. 

“On some of the European grands prix, having him in the sim overnight and providing data for the Saturday is a super advantage for us.”

And Wolff is confident 24-year-old Schumacher would be a capable back-up for Hamilton or Russell if one of Mercedes’ regular drivers were ruled out of a race. 

“The other side is that if one of George [Russell] or Lewis were to have to have fish poisoning – well, Lewis can’t have fish poisoning, it would be avocado poisoning – then we know we have a super guy that will drive the car and drive the car well,” he added. 

“And as much as I like the situation for the benefit of the team, I would prefer every day of the week that Mick sits in the cockpit and actually races.”