The announcement earlier this week that Gabriel Bortoleto will race with Sauber next season has all but ended Schumacher’s small chance of returning to the F1 grid.
Schumacher has been eager to receive a second chance in the series since Haas elected to drop him once his crash-strewn sophomore campaign concluded in 2022.
But although Binotto revealed that he was among the Audi-owned team’s candidates to partner Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber has chosen Bortoleto to complete its line-up.
The Swiss-Italian engineer, who worked with Schumacher during his time at Ferrari, has insisted the German remained on Sauber’s list up until it decided on Bortoleto.
Asked whether Schumacher was someone that he contemplated, Binotto replied: “Yeah. We had several talks, he was certainly a strong candidate.
“I know him very well from the past and I know his strengths and maybe his weaknesses as well, but certainly I think he would have been a good choice.
“I think there have been many candidates and Mick would have been certainly a good choice as well.
“Now sometimes you need to come to a decision. I think there is no reason why or blames for me, the reason simply goes we decided for Gabriel and that’s it.”
