Schumacher wants to use lessons learned at Mercedes at Alpine in 2024

Schumacher became Mercedes' test and reserve driver after his forced departure from Haas F1. He hoped he would get a seat in the king class of motorsport after one year, but he was disappointed. Schumacher therefore switched to just long-distance racing.

Test with Alpine

In October, he completed a test with the Alpine hypercar, a month later he signed a contract as a driver with the French newcomer in the WEC. "It is a very different car to drive. I'm not going to lie, it feels very heavy, it feels very different and such. Maybe sometimes a bit claustrophobic as well, because it's the first time for me that I don't see my tyres, it's the first time that I don't get the wind in my face."

Whether his introduction to the hypercar at the Spanish circuit of Jerez de la Frontera was decisive in his decision to sign with Alpine? "It was obviously very different, but I wouldn't necessarily say it was the deciding factor. I was already at that point that I wanted to commit to this if I didn’t get any chance in Formula 1. Just because as I said, you have so many manufacturers jumping into that right now," he said.

24 Hours of Le Mans

Schumacher continued: "And Le Mans 24 Hours has always been a target of many drivers, even Formula 1 drivers these days, and they wanted to compete in that. So it is for me where I feel like there's an intriguing point in it where it kind of gets interesting because you do have to share that car for 24 hours and you have to be able to bring it through. You can only win Le Mans if you do see the chequered flag."

Schumacher did few real race kilometres in 2023. Has he improved from his last race in Abu Dhabi for Haas F1 in 2022? "Maybe on the driving side, as I haven't been driving, it's kind of difficult to work on it. But in general, still taking all that information that I've been given from Mercedes, but also just by observing. Yes, I definitely feel like I've taken a step forward," he concluded.