Mick Schumacher certainly has racing pedigree, being the son of legendary racing driver Michael Schumacher.
The 23-year-old has spent two seasons with Haas and has shown glimpses of his talent and potential during this period, picking up an impressive sixth place finished last year at the Red Bull Ring for example.
While Schumacher clearly has the potential to become an impressive Formula 1 driver in the future, his inconsistency has led Haas to replace him with the vastly experienced Nico Hulkenberg for the upcoming season.
High-profile crashes in Saudi Arabia and Monaco reportedly cost the team more than $3m in repair costs, making Schumacher too expensive of an asset.
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Former F1 driver Marc Surer has now questioned Haas’ decision to replace Schumacher, suggesting that the team will regret making the change in the long run.
“With Mick you have someone who has now been served practically two years of apprenticeship in Formula 1, and now you push him away. Maybe the breakthrough would have come,” explained Surer to formel1.de.
“In the short term, I would say yes, the experienced man who is hungry is the better choice for a year, but Mick is certainly the better choice in the long term.
“I think we have not seen the best of him yet. He’s a good racing driver and good racers can also become world champions. You can see correctly that he has talent.
“If he gets to sit in the right car and it works for him, as we have seen in Formula 2 and in Formula 3, then if it works for him he can implement it.”
Schumacher was urged by former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone to forget about his F1 dream and move on to a different racing category in the wake of his Haas sacking, but the German was quick to shut down this idea.
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In his statement addressing his Haas departure, he explained his disappointment in the team’s decision and claimed that he feels as if he belongs in F1.
The 23-year-old has now signed for Mercedes, where he will spend some time serving as the team’s third driver, completing simulator work and learning from some of the best in the business.
Toto Wolff has likened the situation of Mercedes’ last reserve driver Nyck de Vries, claiming that Schumacher will come on leaps and bounds during his time with the Silver Arrows before the team decide whether to promote him to a race seat or allow him to go and make a career elsewhere.