Alpine has achieved a coup by signing Michael Schumacher’s son Mick for the 2024 World Endurance Championship (WEC). For the first time since Nick Heidfeld in 2016, a German Formula 1 driver is at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans – apart from Andre Lotterer’s one-off appearance with Caterham in Spa in 2014. The team assures us that the selection was easy.
“It wasn’t a process of industrial scale. It’s a very human and manual process. That’s how we work,” Bruno Famin, head of Alpine Motorsport, told Daily Sportscar. “If you have the opportunity to have Mick Schumacher in the team, then of course you work on it.”
“We could have organized a test with three, four, five or ten drivers. But then we would have had a driver who knows the track and the tires better and so on. That’s why we prefer to work with drivers who we know in some way know.”
What Schumacher has to offer
Of course, Famin and Schumacher have crossed paths more than once in the Formula 1 paddock. But how did it come to sign a driver who is the only one of the blue sextet who has no experience in long-distance racing?
“What he can bring to the team is his experience at the highest level of competition,” says Famin. “Endurance racing is developing into a very demanding discipline because we have so many manufacturers with very top-class teams and engineers.”
And then of course there is the Balance of Performance (BoP), which allows the driver to make a much bigger difference than before, when individual vehicles were only separated by seconds per lap. Drivers are becoming more and more important.
“It’s not just about fast drivers, but also about drivers who protect the tires and the car for their teammates for one, two or three stints, who are willing to make compromises to ensure the best performance from all three drivers,” continued the Frenchman.
“Mick brings his experience to the table at a very high level. He is still a reserve driver at Mercedes and has a lot of experience in a Formula 1 team that operates at the highest level. He has completed two full seasons at Haas and will have some ideas and Bringing methods that will help us raise the bar – and that’s exactly what we want. I think he’s a very, very smart guy.”
Reluctance after Jerez test explained
Famin is convinced that Schumacher’s achievements in Formula 1, where he only finished in the points twice in 44 starts, are underestimated: “I think he is a very good driver, a very fast driver. You shouldn’t forget that he “I was a Formula 2 and Formula 3 champion. He has a lot of skills. I don’t see why we should have missed this opportunity.”
After the Jerez test, the Renault Group greatly downplayed any possible collaboration. How did this one-time thing become a lasting commitment? “It wasn’t really a one-off thing. The test was done for him to get to know this type of car, as he has only driven a monoposto in his career.”
“Of course we talked about the possibility of working together, but he was very curious to drive the car to see how an endurance team works. He came to Jerez to get to know the world of endurance racing, after only having known the world so far who knew Monoposti. He should make up his own mind whether he wants to drive or not.”
He has obviously decided on a commitment, but it can end at any time if one of the Mercedes drivers George Russell or Lewis Hamilton fails in Formula 1: “The contract is clear, the agreement with Mick is clear. If he gets the chance “To drive in Formula 1 to replace George or Lewis, then he will drive in Formula 1.”
Alpine has not yet announced its own replacement driver for this case, but Famin is not worried about it: “We will quickly find a replacement driver from the Alpine Endurance family should we need him.” The other Alpine WEC regular drivers are Ferdinand Habsburg, Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin.