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Mick Schumacher's uncle Ralf feels the young driver was not picked by Red Bull because of 'personal reasons' stemming from Helmut Marko. Marko is the head of the team's driver development program.
Last season, the Austrian team was in a quandary over the driver it wanted to pick for AlphaTauri. Pierre Gasly had moved on to Alpine and left a seat vacant alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
Around that time, Mick Schumacher was in limbo at Haas. His contract extension had not gone through and if offered, he may very well have accepted to drive for AlphaTauri.
That seat, however, went to Nyck de Vries who hasn't lived up to expectations and might face the axe himself this season. To add to this, AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost had also mentioned that Mick Schumacher was a driver he would have wanted within the team.
Ralf Schumacher recently weighed in on the issue and revealed he wasn't too sure why the young German did not get the call from Helmut Marko. Insinuating 'personal reasons' as a factor, the former F1 driver told Formel1.de:
“Franz Tost, as the team manager and team principal, initially wanted a different driver because he knows that it takes two to three years [to get drivers up to speed].
“The driver available on the market was Mick. Mick would have made sense as well. But then Dr. Helmut Marko came along and, for personal reasons or whatever it may be, didn’t want that and chose Nyck de Vries, instead.”
Ralf added:
“Even though I have a good exchange with him personally, it seems he has some problem with Mick because otherwise, it’s not understandable to me why it didn’t work out from the beginning.
“To be honest, I don’t see anyone else in the squad who would fit in there at the moment. That’s why I’m surprised by what Dr. Helmut Marko is doing.”
Mick Schumacher may have been a good choice at AlphaTauri, but struggles at Haas loom large
Both Mick Schumacher and Yuki Tsunoda have experience racing against each other in the F2 championship where the German arguably did a better job. It's hard to speculate how Mick would have fared in AlphaTauri because his time at Haas left a lot to be desired.
Having said that, the young German might need to reign in his uncle Ralf. Public comments disparaging the man that could be a potential employer in the future is just not the manner in which one gains any favor in F1.
