Mick Schumacher could replace Sky F1 pundit as surprise F1 2026 lifeline emerges – reports

Mick Schumacher could leave Alpine’s World Endurance Championship team to replace Sky F1 pundit Jenson Button at the Cadillac-backed Jota outfit.

And the move could see the German secure a reserve driver role with the Cadillac F1 team for the F1 2026 season.

Mick Schumacher to combine Cadillac WEC switch with F1 2026 reserve role?

Schumacher has struggled to regain a place on the F1 grid since losing his Haas seat at the end of the 2022 campaign.

The 26-year-old held a reserve role with Mercedes across 2023/24, returning to racing with Alpine’s WEC operation last season.

He parted company with Mercedes at the end of 2024, committing himself entirely to his racing activities with Alpine for the 2025 campaign.

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Schumacher, who added German racing driver Dirk Muller to his management team earlier this year, has two podium finishes to his name so far this season, guiding the A424 hypercar to third place at Imola and Spa.

As reported by PlanetF1.com last month, Button is set to leave the Cadillac-affiliated Jota team at the end of this season with the 2009 F1 World Champion leaving a vacancy alongside 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Earl Bamber and Sebastien Bourdais, the former Toro Rosso F1 driver.

Button, who has two young children, cited his “very busy schedule” – which includes regular appearances as a Sky F1 television pundit and an ambassadorial role with the Williams F1 team – as a factor behind his decision to step away.

Button has been described as the weak link in Jota’s current driver lineup, with German publication Auto Motor und Sport suggesting that he is consistently between two and three tenths slower than Bamber and Bourdais.

The 44-year-old, who made the last of his 306 F1 appearances at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix, intends to race in other categories in 2026, but does not plan to compete for a full season.

Multiple reports have claimed that Button’s impending exit could end up offering an F1 lifeline to Schumacher, who has emerged as the leading candidate to replace the veteran at Jota.

It is said that Jota’s focus on marketing is likely to give Schumacher the edge over Jack Aitken, the one-time Williams F1 racer whose other commitments in the US-based IMSA series could count against him in the race to replace Button.

The signing of a driver of the stature of Schumacher, the son of seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, could see sponsors flood to the team.

Schumacher is said to have no hope of an F1 future at Alpine under Flavio Briatore, the executive adviser who oversaw his father’s first two title triumphs with the Benetton team in 1994/95.

Aligning with Jota could see Schumacher emerge as a serious option of playing a role with the incoming Cadillac F1 team, which is preparing for its Formula 1 debut next year.

PlanetF1.com revealed earlier this week that Sergio Perez, the former Red Bull driver, has reached an agreement to join Cadillac F1 for the F1 2026 season, with an announcement expected around the time of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza next month.

The identity of Perez’s team-mate is yet to be decided with current Mercedes F1 reserve Valtteri Bottas widely believed to be among the frontrunners to race for the American team.

Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich, as well as F2 drivers Alex Dunne and Jak Crawford, are also thought to be in contention.

Although he is not believed to be a candidate for a race seat, Schumacher’s proposed move to Jota would make him an obvious pick for the role of Cadillac F1 reserve driver and allow him to keep his hopes of a Formula 1 comeback alive.

Graeme Lowdon, the Cadillac F1 team principal, confirmed in June that he has held talks with Schumacher over a role with the team for F1 2026.

Schumacher, who has made no secret of his desire to return to F1, made 43 grand prix starts with Haas across the 2021 and 2022 seasons, scoring a total of 12 points.

His only points finishes came in July 2022, when he followed up an eighth-place finish in Britain with sixth at the Austrian Grand Prix seven days later.

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