Mick Schumacher to race for Alpine in WEC

Alpine LMP2 stalwarts Nico Lapierre, Matthie Vaxiviere, Charles Milesi and Paul Loup Chatin will also drive for the team alongside 2022 ELMS champion Ferdinand Habsburg. The Austrian raced in LMP2 in WEC with WRT this season, impressing with his speed.

Alpine will field two A424 LMDh cars in the Hypercar class of WEC, including the Le Mans 24 Hours. It is the second time that Alpine has taken part in the top class, having used a grandfathered LMP1 car in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, before stepping back to LMP2 while it developed the new LMDh car.

Mick Schumacher had been expected to sign with the team after testing the new car earlier this year. He spent 2023 as a reserve driver for Mercedes in F1 after losing his drive with Haas and ending his association with Ferrari at the end of 2022.

It will be Schumacher’s first step into sportscar racing, a class that his father, seven-time F1 champion Michael, raced in early in his career. Schumacher senior won multiple World Sportscar Championship races for Sauber Mercedes back in the early 1990s before he moved to Formula 1.

Speaking about joining Alpine Mick Schumacher said: "A new chapter is beginning for me with Alpine in the FIA WEC Hypercar category. The car is impressive, and I can't wait to get started. 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.

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. 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 Motorsports’ Vice President, added: “It this decisive phase for the A424 programme, we are proud to reveal the six drivers who will race for us in the Hypercar category in 2024.

“With Philippe Sinault, we wanted drivers who are not only fast and reliable, but also showing a real team spirit and good racing acumen to best represent the Alpine colours in the premier category of the World Endurance Championship.

“We are absolutely delighted to have these six drivers and we hope they will all bring their own experience and qualities to the project, for example Charles with his youth, Nicolas with his experience in Endurance to mentor the younger drivers, and also Mick, with his experience gained at the highest level. It might be his first foray into Endurance, but his enthusiasm for the project and his will to join us are palpable. I’m sure he will be a real asset.”