Why James Vowles didn’t want to sign Mick Schumacher to replace Logan Sargeant

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When the light goes green at the end of the pit late at Monza on Friday morning, there will be a new driver in the second Williams car for the first time since the opening round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

After 37 Grand Prix weekends, Logan Sargeant has been replaced by Williams after underperforming what was expected of him.

Team principal James Vowles decided to replace the American with Franco Colapinto and the Argentinian will make his full debut in just a few days at the Italian Grand Prix.

Colapinto was seen as an outside shout for the role considering the other drivers available on the market.

Vowles has since given his reasons for choosing Colapinto, but it meant drivers with more Formula 1 experience missed out.

One of those drivers was Mick Schumacher and a report from Auto Motor und Sport has shared more details about why the German wasn’t given the nod ahead of the 21-year-old Williams junior driver.

READ MORE: Who is F1 reserve and Alpine WEC star Mick Schumacher? Everything to know

Schumacher spent two seasons at Haas but struggled in an underwhelming car before being replaced by Nico Hulkenberg.

The American team have gone on to have two stronger campaigns without Schumacher but that’s not completely down to the 25-year-old.

However, Vowles had reservations about Schumacher even though Toto Wolff was pushing for him to bring the German in until the end of the season.

Why James Vowles decided against hiring Mick Schumacher over Franco Colapinto

As soon as Sargeant suffered a serious crash in the final practice session in Zandvoort, the rumour mill started up and plenty of drivers were linked with his seat.

Schumacher and Kimi Antonelli’s names were mentioned in the paddock, although Wolff quickly ruled out a move for Antonelli as he continues to step up his Mercedes program.

With Red Bull refusing to rule out potentially recalling Liam Lawson if he went out on loan, Schumacher suddenly looked in line for the Williams seat.

However, the report from AMuS shares why Vowles decided against bringing him in as he eventually favoured a move for an untested rookie in Colapinto.

Mercedes wouldn’t have put any obstacles in his way although there is a WEC event this weekend which would have clashed with the Grand Prix at Monza.

However, it’s likely that Schumacher would have immediately abandoned that series to make an F1 return.

Unfortunately, Vowles is ‘not considered’ to be Schumacher’s ‘biggest fan’ according to AMuS.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes relationship

They point to the head-to-head battle that he lost against Magnussen as one reason why he was unsure about hiring the 25-year-old.

Vowles also ‘still remembers’ a couple of accidents that Schumacher had on the way to winning the F2 title in 2020.

Given one of the reasons why Sargeant has lost his seat is because of how often he’s finding the barriers, it makes sense now why Schumacher didn’t get the nod.

Could Mick Schumacher still be on the Formula 1 grid in 2025?

The driver’s market is beginning to slow down after a frenetic few months when more than half of the current grid was out of contract for next year.

There are just three seats left to fill for 2025 with Mercedes, RB and Sauber yet to complete their line-ups.

Mercedes will likely hand Lewis Hamilton’s seat to Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull will promote from within once they decide what to do with Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo.

Schumacher has been linked with the vacant Sauber seat as they try to decide who should partner Hulkenberg.

However, it looks like Valtteri Bottas is in pole position to retain his Sauber seat, making an F1 return look increasingly unlikely for the 25-year-old.