Mick Schumacher cannot drive an Alpine F1 car this year with Bruno Famin revealing his contract is solely for endurance racing with the driver committed to Mercedes when it comes to F1.
Returning to racing this season after a year on the sidelines, Schumacher has swapped from single-seater racing to the World Endurance Championship as part of Alpine’s hypercar squad.
The driver, though, has made no secret about wanting to return to Formula 1 and could have an in at Mercedes as the team is now short a driver for 2025 after Lewis Hamilton announced he’s off to Ferrari.
But given he also has ties to Alpine having joined them in the World Endurance Championship, that potentially means two avenues back onto the Formula 1 grid for the son of seven-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher.
Alpine, though, have all but closed the door on that.
Revealing they have no intention of intention of putting Schumacher in their car, at least not this year as their contract with the German is solely for their hypercar programme, Famin made it clear he’s happy to continue with his current line-up of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in 2025.
“No, we cannot,” Alpine team boss Famin said as per Motorsport.com when asked if Schumacher would test the A524.
“We do not plan because we have a reserve driver with Jack Doohan, and Mick is the Mercedes reserve driver. The contract we have with Mick is exclusively for endurance.”
He added: “We have a lot of options [for 2025].
“Mick Schumacher is already an Alpine driver, and for the time being, we’re really happy with Esteban and Pierre.
“Nobody knows when the silly season will really start. We had quite a strong input weeks ago [with Hamilton off to Ferrari] but nothing happened after.
“I think it’s going to be at the next step when the season is going to be really silly. Then we need to be prepared and we are preparing all possibilities. But again, we’re happy with Esteban and Pierre.”
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<3>Mick Schumacher: Mercedes know what I can do
As for Schumacher, the former Haas F1 driver admits he’s still dreaming of Formula 1 and is well aware that Mercedes, for whom he is the reserve driver, now have an open seat for next season.
“I’m of course aware that Lewis’ Mercedes seat will then be free. I’m still keeping an eye on Formula 1 and hopefully the dream will come true again,” the 24-year-old told Sky Deutschland.
“But in the end it’s important that I also do my things and see my role as a reserve driver – and especially my role as a WEC driver in the foreground. If I perform well, let’s see where it takes me.”
He added: “I’m sure that Mercedes knows what I can do. You’ve also seen it in the simulation sessions, in the junior categories and at Haas. Hopefully it’ll be enough to have more people in the WEC and Formula 1 to impress.”
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