Mick Schumacher may have completed his last race in the WEC for Alpine, but he and his team finished outside the points in the 8-hour race in Bahrain. The big question anyway is: What’s next for the former Formula 1 driver in motorsport? The 26-year-old continues to delay his decision.
Even after the last race of the World Endurance Championship season, Mick Schumacher did not provide an answer to the question of whether he would stick with Alpine for another year or change the racing series and move to the USA.
“I have the privilege of making this decision,” he told “motorsport-magazin.com” in Bahrain. At the moment, “everything is still open. I have to be clear about what I want to do. I’m not ready yet. The next few weeks will be important in making the right decisions.”
His contract with Alpine expires at the end of the year, and his team boss Philippe Sinault recently pushed for it. “As you can imagine, we now need clarity as quickly as possible. It’s time to make a decision,” he told the English-language edition of “Motorsport.com”. But Schumacher apparently doesn’t want to let himself be carried away.
A move to the USA is particularly conceivable, where he could start in the IndyCar Series next year. He successfully completed his first test in mid-October. As “motorsport-magazin.com” writes with reference to trends that can be heard from the paddock in Bahrain, hardly anyone now believes in Mick Schumacher’s third year in the WEC.
“Of course Formula 1 was always the goal”
Meanwhile, Schumacher says: “Of course, Formula 1 was always the goal. That didn’t work out. But of course I have the option of racing somewhere else where I enjoy it. No matter where the journey takes me now, I know that I will have a good time.”
In Bahrain he took twelfth place with Alpine, the Toyota with Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck De Vries celebrated its first win of the season. The world title went to the Ferrari with Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado, and fourth place was enough for the trio on Saturday.
Schumacher and his French teammates Jules Gounon and Frédéric Makowiecki finished in the points four times in eight races this season. The highlights of the year were the two third places in early summer in Imola and Spa.