Tsunoda: So far I’m very happy with VCARB

Red Bull is not interested in reviving Mick Schumacher’s stalled Formula 1 race career, the marque’s top F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko insists.

The 25-year-old German lost his Haas race seat two years ago, and now splits his time between F1 reserve duties for Mercedes and a place in Alpine’s Le Mans hypercar lineup.

Schumacher, the son of F1 legend Michael, is currently linked with a potential return to the grid next year with Alpine, and is an outside shot for Logan Sargeant’s endangered race seat at Williams.

"I don’t see Mick at Williams," Mick’s uncle Ralf Schumacher admits to Auto Bild.

And Marko says Schumacher is also not in contention to replace either Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull’s junior F1 team RB.

"It has nothing to do with him personally," the 81-year-old told formel1.de.

"I think he is a very articulate, well-mannered, polite young man who has had his opportunities."

Japanese Tsunoda appears to be heading for a contract extension at RB, although he’s also linked with Aston Martin - with the support of that team’s 2026 engine partner, Honda.

"Aston already has two drivers," the 24-year-old said at Monaco. "I mean, so far I’m very happy with VCARB," he added, referring to the full acronym of Red Bull’s Faenza-based team.

"But, you know, if I’ve got an interesting offer that could be better than VCARB or Red Bull, yeah, I’ll think about it. But I also have a big loyalty to Red Bull as without them I wouldn’t be here."

And even if Ricciardo is pushed out at the end of the season, or even before that, Marko says there will not be room for the hopeful Schumacher.

"No, we have a very good junior in the queue. That’s Liam Lawson," he said.

"We also have (Isack) Hadjar in Formula 2 who is absolutely at the front," Marko added. And we have a 16-year-old (Arvid) Lindblad in Formula 3. So we are in a good position.

"The philosophy, with the exception of Ricciardo at the moment, was that it had to be a junior team," he concluded.