Current Mercedes F1 reserve and development driver, Mick Schumacher has signed a deal to race with Alpine in the 2024 World Endurance Championship – but the German revealed he “considered” moving to Japan’s Super Formula or to the “west” for IndyCar before making his WEC campaign official.
Photo Credits: Alpine Endurance Team
The 24-year-old, who has spent 2023 on the sidelines, working as a reserve and development driver for Mercedes F1, has announced that he will be taking part in the 2024 World Endurance Championship as part of Alpine’s Hypercar programme. He will also remain with his duties at Mercedes next season.
But speaking to selected media on Thursday ahead of the final F1 race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Schumacher revealed he “considered” exploring other categories such as IndyCar and Super Formula before making his decision to join endurance racing – ultimately deciding against it because of the inability to sustain a dual programme with F1:
“I guess, to be fair, you always think about what’s out there, what are the options. And you kind of try and make a pros and contras list,” he said. “And for me, personally, WEC was the one with the least contras and the most pros.
“So at the end, yeah, it was pretty easy for me to decide that that was a challenge to go for.
“I have [considered Super Formula], and I have also considered going west [IndyCar]. But, you know, the thing is, if you do that, there’s little chances of doing a dual programme with Formula One in that sense.”
The 2020 Formula 2 champion believes that sharing a car with two or three other drivers doesn’t take away from teams noticing “individual” performances which will still be crucial if he wants to make a good case for a future Formula 1 return:
“It doesn’t depend on the drivers [you are partnered with]. Obviously, everybody out there – and I feel like also Formula 1 in some sense – will have a look at the individual drivers’ performance. So it’s not like, ‘ah, okay, I’m with these drivers, I can relax now.’
“At the end, you always have to contribute to be able to obviously get the best out of the team and best out of the car. And people will still recognize that.
“If you do a job which is exceptionally good, that will be referred back to Formula 1 in that sense, or to other teams out there.”
The former Haas F1 driver is keeping his sights very much towards a return to the pinnacle of motorsport, and says his links with Mercedes and Alpine – two teams on the current F1 grid – can only be a good thing for his future prospects at the sport:
“I think the link to Formula 1 is an interesting factor. And to me, again, the whole position that we’re able to take in with Mercedes being the reserve driver there, having the WEC position with Alpine, but also that Alpine is in Formula 1.
“I feel like that construction is a good deal.”
Schumacher said he consulted with a few fellow drivers ahead of the move, including his good friend and four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel:
“[I spoke to] a couple of drivers. I mean, I spoke to Timo Glock,” he said. “And I briefly spoken with Sebastian [Vettel] about it as well.
“I mean, obviously this has been a factor that, you know, I think he knows so much about motorsport that it was also a very clear point for me to go and ask him about his opinion about the sport. And he was good.”
