Alfa Romeo is going to take their time before deciding on whether to sign Mick Schumacher for 2021.
As the defacto junior team of Ferrari, the former Sauber outfit is considered the most likely option for the son of seven-time world champion Michael, should the Scuderia decide to promote him to Formula 1.
However, after only a reasonable first year in F2 last year, team boss Fred Vasseur wants to see how Schumacher develops in his second season.
“That was really a strange time without having driven one kilometre so far this year,” he told Swiss publication Blick on the early decisions by Sebastian Vettel, Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo for 2021.
“The dominoes just fell over.
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“For us, there is no rush. Kimi [Raikkonen] still has a contract until the end of the year and then we’ll see.
“I don’t have to tell anyone how valuable he is and [Antonio] Giovinazzi became stronger and stronger at the end of the season.
“Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion but Mick should first concentrate on his Formula 2 career.”
The general feeling is, should Raikkonen retire after this year, Alfa will again look for an established driver, along the lines of Nico Hulkenberg to replace him.
That would mean the pressure is on Giovinazzi to show that he deserves his seat for next year, otherwise Schumacher, and other Ferrari juniors like Callum Ilott, Giuliano Alesi and Robert Schwartzman, will be pushing to replace the Italian.