Mattia Binotto flips Mick Schumacher decision back to Toto Wolff after Audi F1 snub

Audi F1 boss Mattia Binotto has defended his decision to overlook Mick Schumacher for an F1 2025 seat after Mercedes and Toto Wolff did the same by promoting Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

After months of speculation, Audi F1 – who will take over the existing Sauber team in 2026 – confirmed on Wednesday that Schumacher will not feature in their plans for F1 2025.

Mattia Binotto says Mick Schumacher was an Audi F1 candidate, but…

The Swiss-based team completed their driver line-up by announcing that F2 championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto will partner Nico Hulkenberg in an all-new pairing, with both men signed to multi-year contracts.

That has brought an end to Schumacher’s dreams of returning to the Formula 1 grid for F1 2025, potentially for good.

Just a month ago it was speculated that it was a straight fight between former Haas driver Schumacher, who Binotto knows well from his Ferrari junior days, and Valtteri Bottas for the second Audi F1 seat.

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However, Audi F1 have landed Bortoleto – managed by Aston Martin driver and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso – after McLaren agreed to release the 20-year-old.

Bortoleto is to become the first full-time Brazilian F1 racer since Felipe Massa in 2017.

As for Schumacher, Binotto says he was a serious candidate but when it came down to it, he had a decision to make and overlooked him – just as Mercedes motorsport boss Wolff did when he opted for teenager Antonelli over Schumacher, who has been Mercedes reserve driver the last two years, as Lewis Hamilton’s F1 2025 successor.

“Yeah,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com when asked if Schumacher had been under consideration for an Audi F1 race seat. “We had several talks, he was certainly a strong candidate.

“I know him very well from the past and I know his strengths and maybe his weaknesses as well, but certainly I think he would have been a good choice. I think there have been many candidates and Mick would have been certainly a good choice as well.

“Now sometimes you need to come to a decision. I think there is no reason why or blames for me, the reason simply goes we decided for Gabriel and that’s it.

“And I think that maybe we should ask the same of Toto: why Kimi and not Mick?

“I think at some time you need to come to a decision and you make to make a decision. So today, we made the decision to employ and to hire Gabriel and we are happy.”

Schumacher is now expected to re-sign with Alpine for their World Endurance Championship programme, having returned to racing with the French manufacturer this year.

Mattia Binotto explains why Valtteri Bottas wasn’t retained

As for Bottas, he too was a serious candidate – one Binotto hails as a “very fast” driver – but in the Finn’s case it was the duration of the contract that was the sticking point.

Revealing Bortoleto was going to race for Sauber at some point, whether in F1 2025 or only when the team officially became Audi in 2026, Binotto said he and Bottas couldn’t agree on the length on a contract.

Bottas had been consistent throughout negotiations with Audi F1 that he was only interested in a multi-year deal, with a short-term offer not appealing.

Binotto said: “First I am getting on well, very, very well with Valtteri.

“It has been since I’ve started here in August, a great relationship, building it, trusting each others, and I think we really set up good communication between us.

“We had several talks about the journey, the length, duration of the journey, the difficulties we may be facing the next season. We know that the next one will be a difficult season as a team, as a journey to towards the Audi F1 transformation.

“It’s a long, long journey and I think that’s mainly on the duration where we reflect together a lot, and it’s when we came and I came to the conclusion that maybe we need to have a young driver with us.

“So it has been really a mutual understanding, if not agreement. Certainly a mutual understanding of the situation, the facts of what’s required.

“More than that, I’d like you to underline is I think he has been certainly a very strong candidate.

“I know he’s very fast. I know that he has proven to be very fast, still to be very fit, he knows the team, and certainly here he is very high rated, and he’s very highly rated in the paddock.

“So overall, it has not been an easy one, but sometimes you need to come to a conclusion and make a decision and lead.”

Bottas has been linked to a return to Mercedes as the team’s reserve driver.

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