Never mind the window, Mika Hakkinen believes the Formula 1 “door” is still open to Mick Schumacher; he just needs to speak to the “right people” about making a comeback in F1 2026.

25-year-old Schumacher last contested a Grand Prix in 2022, where he finished 16th in the season-ending Abu Dhabi race just days after being informed by Haas that his contract would not be renewed.

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Although he remained on the fringes of the sport as Mercedes’ reserve driver and last year was linked to four teams – Mercedes, Sauber, Alpine and Williams, as they named their drivers for the F1 2025 season, Schumacher’s hopes were dashed one by one.

The German decided to return to racing full-time and said farewell to Mercedes before re-signing with Alpine for a second season in the World Endurance Championship.

His dream remains Formula 1.

“My dream is my dream,” Schumacher said as per RTL. “When I’m in the car, I’m 100 per cent there. That means that when I’m in the WEC environment and racing, my thoughts are 100 per cent there – in the simulator, in the meeting, whatever.”

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“The dream,” he continued, “lives on in the moments when I have free time and can think about it.”

But while the likes of Helmut Marko and Bernie Ecclestone have told him to let it go, double F1 World Champion Hakkinen believes he should hold on.

Hakkinen, one of Michael Schumacher’s fiercest rivals during their time together on the grid, says Schumacher has age and experience on his side. He just needs to knock on the right doors.

“I think he still has a chance to return to Formula 1. The door is still open,” he said as per Motorsport.com. “You just have to talk to the right people.

“He has experience in Formula 1 and he has experience from different racing classes. And he’s young. These are all good things, these are all positive factors.”

“But Formula 1 is an extremely demanding environment today,” he continued.

“If you make three, four, five mistakes and damage the car, it costs the team a fortune. And that’s exactly what the teams don’t like. They don’t want to spend money on repairing a broken car.”

Of course, having a team boss that supports the driver even in the face of mistakes also helps

“In Formula 1 I took more risks, and yes, I crashed a few times,” Hakkinen acknowledged. “But at that time I had a team boss who supported me.

“My team boss at the time didn’t want me to drive slowly, protect the car and just finish the race. Bullshit! Keep your foot down and maximise the pace!”

Schumacher, it could be said and it was often said by his uncle Ralf Schumacher, did not have that. He had Guenther Steiner.

Recording a huge crash in qualifying in Jeddah and then a second big in Monaco, the then-Haas team boss made it clear that he wasn’t impressed and that Schumacher’s seat was on the line.

The writing was on the wall when he had a third big crash in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, his repair bill reportedly sitting at €3 million for the year.

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that Steiner doesn’t see a way back for Schumacher.

“It will be difficult,” he told RTL this week. “If you don’t drive for a long time, and this year there were a lot of seats free, then it’s kind of difficult to get back in there.”

“I don’t think so,” he said of the prospect of Schumacher returning to the grid in F1 2026. “I don’t think he will.”

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