Esteban Ocon has explained why he wants Alpine to sign “good friend” Mick Schumacher for 2023.
The Enstone-based team has an empty seat next season after Fernando Alonso’s decision to join Aston Martin and McLaren won their case in the CRB to capture Oscar Piastri on Friday.
It is broadly expected that Pierre Gasly will make the switch from AlphaTauri, and Red Bull’s Helmut Marko has paved the way for his departure “if our conditions are met”.
But Ocon, who has also backed the possibility of teaming up with Gasly, continued to bang the drum for Schumacher.
“The team will take the right decisions,” he began on Thursday, via ESPN.
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“People know that my choice, if I had anything to say, would be Mick, if he doesn’t have anything lined up for next year.
“He’s a good friend of mine first of all. If I can help on that, that’s no problem. I think he has shown talents in the junior categories as well, he’s been very fast.
“Sometimes in Formula 1, it’s not easy to perform with a car that’s a bit on the back foot. I had that when I started in F1.
“He’s a great guy and he could perform very well if he had a competitive car and at the moment the Alpine is competitive.”
Schumacher’s future remains uncertain with Haas reluctant to make a quick decision on who will partner with Kevin Magnussen next year.
It is also expected the German will depart the Ferrari Academy, although he refused to be drawn on that when asked at Zandvoort.
“What is being discussed behind the scenes between us is something I’d rather keep between us,” he said. “That’s contractual matters which I can’t go into detail with.
Also backing the 23-year-old is the retiring Sebastian Vettel, who believes Schumacher needs a chance to prove himself away from Haas.
“I hope it won’t happen. I think he deserves a seat,” he said via Motorsport-Magazin.com on Mick not being in F1 next year.
“He’s better than people think. He made good progress last year, which many people couldn’t see because the car was so bad, it didn’t show.”
At the back of some team bosses minds though will be the crashes Schumacher had earlier in the year in Jeddah and Monaco.
“I think he made up for it with a few strong races and you could see his speed and talent,” Vettel argued. “I know there is more there.”