Photo courtesy of Alpine
Schumacher joins Alpine WEC team, keeps Mercedes F1 reserve role
Mick Schumacher will return to racing in 2024 with Alpine in the FIA World Endurance Championship, while retaining his position as Mercedes reserve driver.
The German was replaced at Haas by Nico Hulkenberg ahead of this season and joined Mercedes -- a team his father Michael used to race for -- in a reserve role. That’s meant he hasn’t raced this year but has been testing Alpine’s A424 Hypercar and has been confirmed as one of the six drivers that will be part of its 2024 lineup in WEC.
“A new chapter is beginning for me with Alpine in the FIA WEC Hypercar category,” Schumacher said. “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.”
Schumacher will race alongside Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Charles Milesi, Paul-Loup Chatin and Ferdinand Habsburg across the two Alpine entries (click here for separate story).
Alongside those race duties, Mercedes has confirmed it will still lean on Schumacher as a reserve option whenever the two calendars do not clash.
“Delighted to confirm that Mick Schumacher will retain his reserve driver role with the team for 2024,” Mercedes confirmed. “We're excited to see Mick continue to contribute to our team alongside his new challenge in WEC next season.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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