Ralf Schumacher: You have to admit, Mick's time is running out.

      Ralf Schumacher admits that his nephew's chances of returning to Formula 1 are dwindling, since another theoretically possible option has fallen away: Cadillac is not waiting for Mick Schumacher.

      At one time Graham Loudon, the head of the new Formula 1 team, named the son of the seven-time world champion among the candidates for a seat at Cadillac F1, but in the end the choice was made in favor of more experienced drivers, who have wins and poles to their name and who have come through the schools of championship teams — Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

      "Cadillac chose Bottas and Perez because both have won races, worked in top teams and have proven themselves well," Ralf reasoned in an interview with T-Online. "That's important for any team that wants to quickly obtain valuable information. The only question is whether they still have their old pace. In any case, in recent years those two have not performed well, to put it mildly.

      "In my opinion, such a choice is somewhat surprising, because I would have preferred to see a combination of experience and youth. I'm convinced that Mick could have given something to the new team, since he has both Formula 1 racing experience and appearances in the WEC.

      "Of course, you could say that Nico Hülkenberg also returned to racing after a long break. But Mick hasn't raced in Formula 1 for several years — one has to admit that his time is running out. Moreover, it's worth remembering that young drivers from Formula 2 are coming up, for example Alex Dunne or Arvid Lindblad — both have good chances of getting into Formula 1 in the coming years. All of this only makes the task harder for Mick.

      "To be honest, returning to the paddock is becoming more and more difficult. The longer he's absent, the less chance he has of returning."

      Last week it became known that Mick Schumacher is preparing for his first tests in IndyCar: on October 13 at the Indianapolis circuit he is scheduled to drive a car for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) team.