From looking at his results in 2022, Mick Schumacher is clearly a talented driver with a lot of potential.
The problem for the German is that results like his P6 in Austria last year are often cancelled out by his high-profile and expensive crashes in Monaco and Saudi Arabia.
For a team like Haas, these crashes make Schumacher too expensive of an asset to keep, leaving them little choice but to put their faith in the experience of Nico Hulkenberg next season.
This decision left Schumacher without a race seat and he was eventually picked up by Mercedes to replace Nyck de Vries as their third driver.
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While Schumacher will not be able to take part in the young driver practice sessions for Mercedes due to his two years with Haas, the German will still be looking to learn as much as possible during his time with the Silver Arrows.
When Alex Albon lost his seat at Red Bull at the end of 2020, the Thai driver decided to spend a season working as the team’s third driver which earned him a move to Williams last year.
Albon was often praised for his hard work behind the scenes and in the simulator and Schumacher has admitted that he would like to follow the pathway of the Williams driver.
“I’ll take the same similar approach that Alex did,” he said at the W14 launch event.
“But, more than that, it’s also an opportunity for me to have, instead of one teammate, two teammate to look at and see what they’re doing.
“Maybe I don’t have a direct comparison because I’m not driving, but I know how I would approach it and in that way, I can see what they’re doing and how they approach it.
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“Say, if they have an oversteering car, what do they do with the tools? What do they do in terms of driving styles and basically learn from that and hopefully add to my toolbox, seeing some more tools to be able to help me when I come back.”
Schumacher has been very clear that his F1 journey is not over, with the 23-year-old hoping to return to the grid for 2024.
While it is unclear what opportunity might present itself for Schumacher next year, Audi are reportedly interested in acquiring his services in 2026, with the chance to sign a German driver too good to turn down.