Alpine boss Bruno Famin has revealed Mick Schumacher’s showings in the World Endurance Championship have put him in the running for a Formula 1 drive in 2025.
The Enstone-based camp’s two current drivers – Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly – will be out of contract at the end of this season and are attracting interest elsewhere.
Famin has said he is not in a rush to resolve Alpine’s plans, but the F1 driver market has continued to ramp up with Nico Hulkenberg’s choice to move to Sauber/Audi.
According to recent rumours, the American outfit is attempting to capitalise on its newfound competitiveness this term to tempt Ocon to headline the team’s charge.
In the circumstance where either Ocon or Gasly leave, Alpine’s inauspicious start to the season with one point scored in seven rounds could limit its available options.
Schumacher has rebounded from losing his F1 drive with Haas at the end of 2022 to build a promising career in sportscars with Alpine in WEC’s Hiperclass category.
Alpine team-mate Nicolas Lapierre credited Schumacher with the “strongest pace” among the marque’s drivers at Imola, with Famin also impressed with the German.
“Mick is making an incredible job in endurance,” Famin told Motorsport.com. “What is very impressive is his mindset.
“Of course he’s fast, but I think everybody knows he’s fast.
“In endurance it’s not always useful to do a very good lap time because you have the BoP on top and you have to be a bit careful with the performance.
“But the matter there is not to evaluate the pure performance of the driver, but where Mick has been really incredible is in his adaptation to the endurance mindset.
“We used to say that single-seater drivers are selfish. Mick, from the very first minute, has been very open, very cooperative, really helpful for his team-mates, ready to learn everything – especially from endurance – and a super mindset, super team spirit.”
Famin divulged that Schumacher was considered one of “many ” possibilities on Alpine’s radar, citing that several drivers had been in touch over potential opportunities.
Valtteri Bottas, who is set to depart Sauber as Audi wields its growing influence over the Hinwil-based team, has been named as one driver to be assessing his options.
However, the Finnish racer, a 10-time F1 winner with Mercedes, is understood to also be in discussions about a return to Williams to partner the incumbent Alex Albon.
Alpine had anticipated a sluggish start to the current campaign amid the decision to overhaul its car concept, but it opened the season with the slowest car in the field.
But Alpine has made slow progress up the pecking order since then and is now operating at the minimum weight limit, having carried excess bulk earlier in the season.
Ocon utilised that to bag a point in Miami earlier this month, although Alpine was unable to build on that as it failed to trouble the top 10 places in Imola last weekend.
