Bernie Ecclestone's Mick Schumacher switch claim dismissed despite "question mark" over Kimi Raikkonen

Alfa Romeo

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Ecclestone's Schumacher switch claim dismissed despite "question mark" over Raikkonen

Schumacher is cutting his teeth in F1 at Haas

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Thursday 8 July 2021 11:37

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Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur has shrugged off former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's suggestion that Mick Schumacher will join the team next season.

Schumacher is impressing in his rookie year despite running largely anonymously with back-of-the-grid Haas, although has consistently outperformed team-mate Nikita Mazepin and even qualified for Q2 at the French Grand Prix.

At Alfa Romeo, Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi have yet to be confirmed for next season and asked if discussions had begun with the Finn in particular, Vasseur replied: "It is far too early to discuss this.

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"We are working together, we have tonnes of races in a row over the last two or three months and I think we discuss together in the last part of the season, not before."

Ecclestone recently suggested a move to Alfa Romeo is in the pipeline for Schumacher, to which Vasseur commented: "Perhaps he is more aware than myself."

Alfa Romeo to keep drivers "under pressure"

Despite being halfway through the calendar year, over half of the scheduled races are still to run.

With the focus on achieving as high a result in the constructors' championship as possible, Vasseur stressed the importance of keeping his drivers' focus on the battles ahead and not rushing into announcing a lineup.

"To keep the system under pressure is always a good thing," he said.

"I don't want to commit for a long time, I don't want to say 'Okay guys, you can relax and blah blah'. We have to keep everybody under pressure.

"F1 is all about pressure and we have to keep it like this. We don't know what could happen around us, in the junior series and in the top of the field and so on and we don't want to take this kind of commitment today.

"We know the grid will be fulfilled by the top, Mr Wolff will make his own decision and then Mr Horner and then at one stage it will come to us.

"We are not in a rush to make this kind of decision but things are moving and for sure we have a question mark around Kimi, but Antonio is improving."