Michael Schumacher’s wife Corinna defends son Mick after being casted in....

An “incredibly close” relationship could need a patch-up after Corinna Schumacher reportedly got on the front foot to defend son Mick at the Italian Grand Prix over the weekend.

The 25-year-old Formula One reserve driver was the subject of forthright comments by Williams team boss James Vowles, a former colleague of stricken F1 legend Michael, after being overlooked for a promotion this season.

Mick was in the mix to replace the axed Logan Sargeant but the former Haas driver missed out when Vowles chose academy product Franco Colapinto

Vowles was typically blunt in explaining the decision at Monza, declaring Sargeant — who had a high-profile crash at Zandvoort a week earlier — had reached the limits of his potential.

Vowles, though, also needed to explain why he went with an F1 rookie, and in doing so he put a ceiling on Colapinto while also appearing to take a dig at Schumacher.

“I think we have to be straightforward about this. Mick isn’t special, he would just be good,” Vowles said last Thursday.

The remarks were swiftly criticised by Vowles’ former boss at Mercedes, CEO Toto Wolff, who once employed Michael and now manages and employs Mick as a reserve driver.

“Sometimes he says things too straightforwardly. That was a statement he could have done without,” Wolff said of Vowles.

“Mick has won everything there is to win, from F4, F3 and F2, and then of course operated in an environment with Gunther (Steiner, former Haas team principal), who is brutally tough and that was perhaps not what he needed to develop as a driver.

“That’s why he deserved the chance. If you don’t give it to him, you shouldn’t comment on it, you should let everyone live. That’s my opinion.”