Toto Wolff said it “makes little sense” for Mick Schumacher to keep waiting for a seat in Formula 1, as he stepped away from his Mercedes reserve role.

It was announced the German would leave his third driver duties with Mercedes to take on his racing programme for 2025, in a decision made by Schumacher himself.

Mick Schumacher ‘wants to race’, explains Toto Wolff

Schumacher confirmed at the end of November he would end his two-year stint as Mercedes reserve to throw himself fully at his racing career once again, and it was soon confirmed he would be retained by Alpine for their World Endurance Championship programme for 2025.

“I am grateful to Toto and the entire Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team for the insight I have gained over these two years,” Schumacher said in the announcement of his departure.

“They have undoubtedly made me a more experienced racing driver because I have got to know the engineering side better.

“But watching these cars race and not sitting in the cockpit myself is tough. I want to get back to focusing 100% on racing. I want to be fully committed to the sporting side of motorsport.

“Ultimately, it is racing that you want to do as a driver, it is racing that gives you that feeling you love.”

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Valtteri Bottas has since returned to Mercedes in Schumacher’s stead as third driver for next season, having already spent five years with the Silver Arrows in a race seat.

Bottas said he is looking at getting himself back onto the Formula 1 grid in 2026, but as for Schumacher, team principal Wolff paid tribute to the work he has undertaken behind the scenes at Mercedes, admitting it made “little sense” for him to not be racing with the team.

“He is a really great young man with the right values,” Wolff said to Sky Germany at the Qatar Grand Prix.

“He is very intelligent, but unfortunately, he never really got a chance in Formula 1 with the right environment.

“It has come to a point where the constant waiting makes little sense, and he now wants to race. He will certainly do that very successfully.”

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