22/11/2023
NEWS STORY
Mick Schumacher will form part of Alpine's WEC team in 2024, alongside his role as reserve driver for Mercedes in F1.
As Alpine continues to prepare its A424 hypercar, the French team today confirmed the six drivers who will be behind the wheel of its two World Endurance Championship (WEC) cars in Qatar for the start of the 2024 season, and among them is Schumacher.
A winner in F4, he won the 2018 European F3 title before winning the Formula 2 championship two years later. Promoted to F1, the son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher raced for Haas in 2021 and 2022 before moving to Mercedes as a reserve driver.
Last October, he drove an endurance prototype for the first time. Working with the Alpine team, the German driver learned the subtleties of this new machine under the watchful eye of his future teammates and following this promising first foray, Alpine and Schumacher decided to take up the challenge together in 2024.
"A new chapter is beginning for me with Alpine," said Schumacher. "The car is impressive, and I can't wait to get started.
"I've grown up with single-seaters, so driving a car with a closed cockpit and covered wheels is a great opportunity to hone my driving skills.
"I sorely missed racing this year; it's what I've loved to do since I was a kid, and it was sometimes difficult to watch the other drivers take to the track. Endurance racing is a new challenge for me, and I'm sure we will share great moments together next year with Alpine."
Joining Schumacher will be Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin.
"At this decisive phase for the A424 programme, we are proud to reveal the six drivers who will race for us in the Hypercar category in 2024," said Bruno Famin, Alpine Motorsports VP. "We wanted drivers who are not only fast and reliable, but also showing a real team spirit and good racing acumen to best represent the Alpine colours in the premier category of the World Endurance Championship.
"It might be his first foray into Endurance," he said of Schumacher, "but his enthusiasm for the project and his will to join us are palpable. I'm sure he will be a real asset."
Meanwhile, Mercedes has confirmed that the German will continue his reserve driver role with the team in 2024.