Formula One F1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - November 19, 2022 Haas' Mick Schumacher in action during qualifying REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Mick Schumacher would be a good fit as a Formula One reserve for Mercedes but a deal had yet to be agreed, team boss Toto Wolff said on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Schumacher, son of seven-times world champion Michael, is without a drive next year after American team Haas opted to replace him with the returning Nico Hulkenberg.
Schumacher, whose father raced sportscars for Mercedes as part of their young driver programme early in his career and then made a three-year Formula One comeback with them, has been linked to a reserve role with the Brackley-based team.
His uncle Ralf also drove for Mercedes in his post-F1 DTM career while Ralf's son David currently races a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the touring car series.
"Mick is someone that has always been close to our heart because of Michael or the whole Schumacher family," Wolff told reporters at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
"We believe that we can look after him if the situation were to happen... but we haven't really put pen to paper, we haven't really come anywhere close to any terms.
"I think he just fits and now we need to make it happen, if he wants to, (manager) Sabine (Kehm) wants to and then we see where that goes to," he added.
Schumacher, the 2020 Formula Two champion, made his Formula One debut with Haas in 2021.
He was involved in some costly crashes earlier this year but also scored his first points.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Schumacher said he was disappointed by Haas's decision.
He said he wanted to stick around and would assess his options.
Mercedes, whose race drivers are Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, has vacancies for reserve roles with Nyck de Vries joining AlphaTauri as a full-time race driver next year and Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne signing up to be reserve at Aston Martin.
Daniel Ricciardo, who was also linked with a Mercedes reserve role, is set to return to Red Bull as third driver.
Schumacher is also a part of Ferrari's young driver academy.
The Maranello-based outfit's boss Mattia Binotto said the team, with whom Schumacher senior enjoyed his greatest successes, would sit down with Mick and decide whether to keep him.
"I think the decision is really what would be best for him," said Binotto.
"We do not have any seat to offer him right now and I think what's most important when you're so young in your career is to make sure that you get the best opportunity for you."
(Reporting by Abhishek Takle; editing by Clare Fallon)
