{"id":17773,"date":"2024-01-01T05:33:34","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T10:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=17773"},"modified":"2024-01-01T05:48:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-01T10:48:28","slug":"alpine-explain-mick-schumacher-2024-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/01\/01\/alpine-explain-mick-schumacher-2024-signing\/","title":{"rendered":"Alpine explain Mick Schumacher 2024 signing"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Alpine are enthusiastic about Mick Schumacher&#8217;s potential for growth, which will be observed throughout 2024.<\/h3>\n<p>Mick Schumacher spent last season as a Mercedes reserve driver, accumulating experience with the team. In a bid to return to the F1 grid, the 24-year-old also held talks across the grid to explore potential openings.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for Schumacher, the doors were closed for 2024. Toto Wolff admitted this some time ago, failing to convince the likes of Williams to offer the former Ferrari junior a seat.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2023\/12\/24\/alpine-reveal-mick-schumacher-plans-he-is-underestimated\/\" target=\"_self\">a deal with Alpine&#8217;s WEC team<\/a> was reached. This agreement serves several purposes, keeping his links to the F1 paddock alive whilst also providing other opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Spending time as a reserve driver is valuable, but simulator work is no substitute for racing competitively. As a result, Mick Schumacher&#8217;s next twelve months will serve as an important test.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"e351_JoTR_lMQV3RWqAEQA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1745655735\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'e351_JoTR_lMQV3RWqAEQA',sig:'xb-7J0NUiHRaPApcjX-AdzXHKuE41ASrcZpdtH51WKQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1745655735',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>At one stage, there were speculative links between the youngster and Alpine in an F1 context.<\/p>\n<p>Following <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2023\/12\/31\/fernando-alonso-contract-extension-until-2025-on-the-cards\/\" target=\"_self\">Fernando Alonso&#8217;s<\/a> departure from Enstone, Esteban Ocon named Schumacher as his ideal next teammate. While this preference was never going to dictate Alpine&#8217;s selection, it isn&#8217;t something to be downplayed.<\/p>\n<h3>Mick Schumacher&#8217;s experience impresses Alpine<\/h3>\n<p>Speaking after signing Schumacher, Alpine&#8217;s Bruno Famin explained their decision to sign him:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;He is still a Mercedes reserve driver,&#8221; he told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysportscar.com\/2023\/12\/23\/catching-up-with-alpines-management-bruno-famin-philippe-sinault.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dailysportscar.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;And he had a very long and good experience of what a top-level Formula 1 team is.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;He has two full seasons with Haas and will bring us some ideas and methodologies to help put the bar higher, for sure.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Which is what we want.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15898 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/USATSI_19270418-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Mick Schumacher at the United States Grand Prix, Austin. 2022\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/USATSI_19270418-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/USATSI_19270418-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/USATSI_19270418-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/USATSI_19270418-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It is not uncommon for F1 drivers to find success in other motorsport categories. Antonio Givonazzi is a recent example, winning the 24hrs of LeMans for Ferrari last year. Many other drivers have taken a similar path over the last decade.<\/p>\n<p>Although Mick Schumacher is not guaranteed success, there will certainly be a chance to impress. World Endurance is a highly competitive Championship, so performing well in the series is a good indicator of a driver&#8217;s level.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, keeping links with both Alpine and Mercedes can only be a positive. Toto Wolff will continue to pursue Schumacher&#8217;s best interests, whilst the French manufacturer will have direct access to his performance.<\/p>\n<p>Alpine has been clear about why they signed Mick Schumacher, so now he must prove their judgement was correct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alpine are enthusiastic about Mick Schumacher&#8217;s potential for growth, which will be observed throughout 2024. Mick Schumacher spent last season as a Mercedes reserve driver, accumulating experience with the team. In a bid to return to the F1 grid, the 24-year-old also held talks across the grid to explore potential openings. Unfortunately for Schumacher, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":15899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2220,1567,68,23,443],"class_list":["post-17773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2024-formula-1-season","tag-alpine","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-mick-schumacher"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}