Yeah it’s time for Mick to find somewhere else. It’s kinda sad to see him, with expectations so high he could never live up. He got the drive and turned out to be not good enough. That’s it, go do something else. Don’t go hanging around Toto as a sad puppy looking for scraps. He could do really well in sportscars for example, constantly fishing for another F1 drive just on your name isn’t going to happen.
I don’t think being a reserve driver is unreasonable and they tend to hang around the paddock anyways.
I think Nico Hulkenberg is a perfect example of why it can pay to keep in contact with F1 teams when everyone else says your career is over. That isn’t a skill comparison, just an example of someone playing bench warmer after their career in F1 was “over” who still made a comeback.
F1 has certainly seen more ridiculous things.
