Mick Schumacher hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning to F1 when Cadillac arrives on the grid in 2026.

Cadillac F1 should put to bed any thought of signing Mick Schumacher, as he not only had a hard time in his first foray into Formula 1, but he also cannot be considered an experienced driver.

That’s according to 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.

Mick Schumacher is not the candidate Cadillac F1 needs

Schumacher is one of several drivers on Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon’s not-so-short short list for an F1 2026 drive.

Formula 1’s new 11th team, which will make its debut next season, is said to be debating between Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas as well as former Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu and Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich.

Schumacher is also a candidate, according to Cadillac team principal Lowdon.

“Mick is great,” Lowdon told Sky Deutschland last month. “He’s a very nice guy, I like him a lot. I’ve got to know him better now.

“He’s still young, but he already has Formula 1 experience. Of course, that was a while ago, but he’s kept himself up to date.

“He has also completed tests and shows great interest in the [Cadillac] project.”

Dropped by Haas at the end of the 2022 season, Schumacher remained on the fringes of F1 as Mercedes‘ reserve driver, while also testing for McLaren before later having a run in an Alpine F1 car.

But between his two years with Haas, and a handful of test sessions after, Villeneuve says the 26-year-old is not the candidate that Cadillac need.

“Mick Schumacher had a hard time when he was at Haas. He’s not an experienced driver either. There’s no reason to go for him,” he told Vision4Sport.

Instead, the 54-year-old says Cadillac should snap up 10-time grand prix winner Bottas to spearhead its line-up. Bottas is reportedly one of the favourites, along with former Red Bull driver Perez.

“Bottas has a lot of experience and he’s shown that he can win races,” Villeneuve said.

“And he’s been with an amazing team in Mercedes. So that’s good attributes to have. It’s hard to judge his Sauber years. I don’t think there was any hunger there.”

It’s not the first time the 1997 World Champion has questioned why any team would want to sign the German driver.

Last year Schumacher was linked to Mercedes, Audi, Alpine and Williams, only to have the doors shut one after the other. Schumacher then committed to Alpine’s World Endurance Championship programme for a second season.

Villeneuve said at the time: “It doesn’t seem like any team wants Mick Schumacher to drive for them.

“The push has been made by Mick and his team, but no one seems to be jumping to get him on their team.

“The problem is his years in F1 didn’t conclude in a positive way, he might be doing better and showing promise in the position he’s in, but the evidence is there for everyone to see.

“For teams, it’s worrisome, do they want to take the risk of hoping Mick is better than he was? It doesn’t look like it at the moment.”