Alpine World Endurance Championship driver Mick Schumacher says he is “excited to see what happens” about his future in F1 following Lewis Hamilton’s decision to move to Ferrari.
Schumacher has been Mercedes‘ reserve driver since losing his race seat at Haas at the end of the 2022 season.However, this season he will be racing in the World Endurance Championship in the new Alpine hypercar, revealed today alongside the team’s new A524 F1 car.
Following news last week that Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of the 2024 season to race for Ferrari from next year, Schumacher admitted he had been surprised by the news.
“Obviously it kind of hit everybody as a shock – and so it did to me,” he told media including RaceFans at the Alpine launch today.
“But on the other hand, everybody has to do what feels right to them. What is going to happen in the next year or weeks is still to be revealed and also for me. So I’m just excited to see what happens to see in the future.”
Schumacher said it was a “special feeling” to be at Enstone, the same factory of the Benetton team that his father Michael Schumacher won the first two of his seven world championship titles with.
“Because obviously my dad has raced here and won his first championships with Benetton with a Renault engine,” Schumacher said. “So it’s an interesting kind of path because kind of feels like I’ve made all the steps that he has done in motorsport.”
Schumacher and Alpine will be targeting victory in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours against defending winners Ferrari, who Schumacher was a junior driver of for many years. Asked by RaceFans how it would feel to compete against Ferrari in the WEC this season, Schumacher insisted there was no extra motivation.
“I guess it’s not much different compared to how it would feel to go against a competitor at any time,” he said. “I think that we all respect each other and I think we’re all just keen on getting into racing and the best may win.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Formula 1
- F1 CEO Domenicali wants more than six sprint races per year
- Hulkenberg named Audi’s first F1 driver for 2026
- Ricciardo needs to show “head-turning form” for 2025 chance – Horner
- F1 Commission defers decision on points change and approves new rear cameras
- Red Bull’s star designer Newey to leave team – reports
falken (@falken)
7th February 2024, 18:52
Not gonna happen. Had his shot, wasn’t good enough.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th February 2024, 22:10
A chance with steiner at haas isn’t good enough, there’s plenty of other teams where a driver like mick schumacher can do well enough to stay in f1, no one expects him to be like his father.
Dex
8th February 2024, 1:25
He was better than some, and visibly improving relative to his teammate. Plus many drivers with better reputation would probably find themselves in trouble, driving for such a… serious team.
Todfod (@todfod)
8th February 2024, 6:19
Come on.. He only bettered Mazepin. He was getting smashed by Magnussen. Magnussen was no match for Hulkenberg. Even the Hulk is not a serious option for that Mercedes seat. So, if Mick thinks he has a shot at driving for Mercedes, he’s kidding himself.
Better to race in another series where he might be respectable.
BasCB (@bascb)
9th February 2024, 12:01
I do think that seeing how he does in a more welcoming and professional team might be worth it.
Good for him to go racing in endurance, show us you can win, be consistent, fast and don’t leave a trail of wreckage wherever he goes and maybe opportunities can open up.
But to put him into the Mercedes team, in a car that – hopefully – can win races, that would only make sense AFTER seeing there is more there than what he showed so far.
Ferdinand
9th February 2024, 10:27
Sporting wise I agree. But then there are political and financial considerations as well in F1 (unfortunate)
An Sionnach
7th February 2024, 19:13
Nice guy. I’d like to see him back in F1 and given a chance to succeed or fail without the unnecessary nonsense Steiner piled on him. I don’t see an edge like his father and other champions tend to have, but a couple of years in a team that isn’t abysmal would be nice.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th February 2024, 22:12
Yes, he was closing in to magnussen speed wise as the season progressed, so I’m sure he could be another midfield driver of the likes of perez, hulkenberg etc. given a 3rd season, and now look at the case steiner no longer has a job, so his way to treat drivers might have been wrong too.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
8th February 2024, 6:41
hulk hasnt really been given a fast car, and hes long in the tooth, perez was allowed to win … a few races, but he doesnt have right last name apparently.
An Sionnach
8th February 2024, 8:20
F1 is competitive and if you’re not good enough you’re out. Still, Steiner’s behaviour was appalling and lacked any degree of basic human dignity. He was a clown playing to the crowd and seemed to enjoy the notoriety he got from doing things like using the increasingly hapless Mick as a punching bag, slagging him off to the press at every opportunity. This is the complete opposite to what has happened with Sargeant. Even de Vries was just out because he wasn’t good enough. There was a lot of pressure but it wasn’t this viciously personal.
I feel that those who seem to delight in attacking Mick are rejoicing that they can finally exact retribution on his father for the crime of being so good. The same type of people who keep pushing the unproven allegations about 1994, where it is now known that Benetton had a system that mimicked traction control, but had to be calibrated to a given atmospheric pressure (so would be less effective if this changed). The number of races Schumacher for disqualified for overtaking under the parade lap in the British GP was a joke.
Frank
8th February 2024, 10:35
Mick and Michael are different drivers.
Mick is not as good as Michael. Then again, few can make that claim.
Mick did not (yet) show a promising speed that would justify a Mercedes seat.
There are other drivers who, at the moment, seem to have a better claim at a top line seat.
And Michael was not banned for overtaking under the parade lap twice. He was handed a 5 second stop and go penalty for that. The lightest penalty that was available at the time. The 2-race ban was entirely self-inflicted for letting that escalate despite an insurmountable championship lead.
An Sionnach
9th February 2024, 1:09
I haven’t claimed that Mick and Michael are similar. I just don’t see a logic in those who relish tearing him down. He showed a marked improvement in 2022, but that was at a point after which it was very unlikely that anyone in a Haas could score points. If he had been in F1 in 2023 and not improved further that would be the end of it.
Schumacher’s disqualification and two race ban was a joke. Mansell got a one race ban added to his disqualification in 1989 and he took Senna out of the race after he had already been disqualified.
Frank
9th February 2024, 20:19
None of the people that you replied to were tearing him down. All merely remarked – and rightly so, in my humble opinion – that there may be choices who have proven more worthy of that front-running seat at the moment.
Mansell got off lightly.
MichaelN
8th February 2024, 11:12
As someone very partial to Schumacher, that really wasn’t a great moment for him and the team.
He overtook Hill on the formation lap.
Twice.
He ignored a 5 second S&G penalty.
He ignored a black flag.
And again.
And again.
Benetton appealed a fine and reprimand.
Only then did the WMSC give a two race ban and DSQ.
Harsh? Yes, but Benetton in particular made a right mess of this situation, and the FIA gave them no fewer than five different opportunities to ‘take it’ and move on.
Pod
8th February 2024, 12:57
“so I’m sure he could be another midfield driver of the likes of perez, hulkenberg etc.”
then why bother?
Jere (@jerejj)
7th February 2024, 19:39
I doubt he’ll get another chance.
Asd
8th February 2024, 8:14
I see Mick as a perennial test driver, he might get in for a substitution race here and there, he might even get an uninspired full season with some backmarker team powered by Mercedes, but that’s it.
Simon (@simon999)
8th February 2024, 15:20
Forget about how good his Dad was, the only relevant question here is whether Mick Schumacher is genuinely in the mix for being – or at least having the potential to be – a “top 20 single-seater driver in the world”?
I’ve never seen someone make a compelling argument for that, so whether he’s a nice guy or works hard or was improving or has a marketable surname should not factor in.
Of course, using that standard we might discard a few current F1 drivers (hi, Lance!), but that shouldn’t excuse Mercedes from lowering their standards if Mick isn’t considered to have that “top-20” potential.
Asd
8th February 2024, 18:34
@simon999 Haha, Simon, you value F1 way too much. One doesn’t have to be a top-20 single-seater driver to race in F1. Maybe 10 of current F1 drivers belong to the top-20. The other half races in IndyCar.