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Mick Schumacher will be racing for Alpine in the World Endurance Championship in 2024, making his debut outside of single-seater racing.
After serving almost a complete season off the racing track as Mercedes F1's reserve driver, Mick Schumacher confirmed earlier that he will be racing for Alpine in the WEC next season. The Germn was last behind the wheel of an F1 car in a race back in 2022 with Haas. After the team decided to replace him in 2023, his chances to return to the sport looked slim, especially with all the teams (except Williams) having already confirmed their lineups for the 2024 season.
The 24-year-old will be partnered with Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Charles Milesi, Paul-Loup Chatin, and Ferdinand Habsburg on the team. Schumacher shared that he was excited to get to racing in the "impressive" car.
"A new chapter is beginning for me with Alpine in the FIA WEC hypercar category," F1 quoted him. "The car is impressive, and I can’t wait to get started."
Schumacher added that he is looking forward to the opportunity of racing in the series. He stated that it would be great to sharpen his driving skills behind a non-open-wheel car.
"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."
Alpine had announced back in 2021 that they will be committing towards entering the Hypercar category of WEC in 2024, which they will be doing with Mick Schumacher and other talented drivers.
Mick Schumacher admits to 'missing' racing in 2023
Racing has been a large part of the German's life. Ever since his early years, he was guided by his father and seven-time F1 world champion, Michael Schumacher.
Mick Schumacher won the 2020 Formula 2 world championship and made his Formula 1 debut with Haas in 2021. After spending two hard seasons with the team, he moved to Mercedes as their reserve driver. Although his new team was much more successful, there was little racing action left for him, which became "difficult", according to him.
"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," he said in a statement. "Endurance racing is a new challenge for me, and I’m sure we will share great moments together next year with Alpine."
Bruno Famin, Alpine Motorsport's Vice President, had earlier hinted towards Schumacher's possible move to WEC. The youngster had tested for the team earlier in Jerez, with his performance impressing Alpine top brass.
