Williams Formula 1 team boss James Vowles has apologised to Mick Schumacher for remarks he made about him not being “special”.
In the wake of Williams electing to take rookie Franco Colapinto rather than the more experienced Schumacher as replacement for Logan Sargeant, Vowles spoke to media on Friday at Monza to explain the reasons behind the call.
And in remarks that gained a lot of traction, Vowles explained why he felt it was better for Williams to promote from within by taking one of its young driver academy drivers rather than going for Mercedes reserve Schumacher.
One of his explanations was that he felt Schumacher, who peaked with sixth from 43 race starts at the 2022 Austrian GP, did not have the superstar status that justified a swoop for him.
“I think we have to be straightforward about this. Mick isn't special, he would just be good,” said Vowles.
The comments prompted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to suggest that his former strategist Vowles would have been better off keeping his thoughts to himself.
"Sometimes he says things too straightforwardly,” Wolff told Sky. “That was a statement he could have done without.”
But in response to the controversy, Vowles has moved to clarify what he meant – and revealed that he took it upon himself to say sorry to Schumacher, who is racing this weekend in the World Endurance Championship for Alpine.
“Where I read the headlines afterwards this morning, what really came across is using the word special in the context of Mick,” Vowles told F1’s own television broadcast. “And I really want to clarify what I mean, first and foremost,
“I'm not here to put Mick down. Mick is in a world championship team [Mercedes] who have chosen him as reserve driver.
“And there's good reason behind it. That is because he's an incredibly strong candidate.
“And the word special? I use it in the context of multiple world champions like Ayrton Senna fundamentally, Lewis [Hamilton] as well. Clearly that's a foolish thing to do, because that's the comparison.”
Vowles said that Schumacher had improved greatly as a driver since a tough two-year stint at Haas came to an end in 2022, and he acknowledged that he had been wrong to say what he said.
“Here's where Mick is: he's had a tough run of it,” Vowles added.
“He's made some exceptional progress, and he's in a very strong team around him.
“Our decision is based on the fact that we want to go with our academy and our drivers.
“I've apologised to Mick as well. He didn't request anything, but it's important to me, because he's incredibly close to me, and it just came across entirely the wrong way.
“So more than anything else, I wanted that to be abundantly clear.
“Don't doubt his abilities, but we as Williams have to go with our Academy. It makes sense what we're doing.”
Colapinto ended Friday's FP2 session 17th in the order, two tenths down on team-mate Alex Albon.
Watch: Was Antonelli Too Fast For His Own Good? - F1 Italian GP Friday News and Analysis
