Mick Schumacher excited for ‘clean slate’ in racing return with Alpine at World Endurance Championship

Mick Schumacher is excited to start a “whole new project” with a “clean slate” at Alpine as they return to the Hypercar class at the World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Schumacher will be driving Alpine’s A424 as he returns to full-time racing following time as a Formula 1 reserve driver with Mercedes and McLaren, after an initial stint on the F1 grid with Haas.

Speaking about his move across formats, Schumacher told Eurosport: “Alpine attracted me because it’s a whole new project, a whole new environment, going into Hypercars and WEC, and starting a clean slate.

“They also have a Formula 1 team which is very attractive but it’s great to be part of this family and start this project from the ground up.

“It’s a great car, it looks amazing. Driving the car is different compared to F1 and open wheel, but it’s very interesting.

“You share it with two other drivers and the goal is the same, you are trying to improve everything you have, and that is what racing is about. You want to try and build a foundation that enables you to win the big prize, which I guess for us is Le Mans.”

Le Mans is the fourth race on the eight-race WEC calendar on June 15-16.

By then Schumacher will be hoping to be more established in the world of WEC, where races are much longer than Formula 1 and the track can be trickier to navigate at times.

“I have always enjoyed adapting to different sorts of cars and different sports,” said Schumacher.

“I found myself in a position where it wasn’t straightforward but I could see myself engaging into trying to understand what I needed to do to get it faster. I have two very experienced and successful team-mates who will guide me along the way and definitely I am excited for that.

“There’s a long way to understanding and predicting where to overtake, how to overtake, and how much you can do in traffic.

“I am a bit excited and on the respectful side, I am not sure exactly what’s coming my way.

“I am sure the race will be quite messy at times and it’s trying to stay calm in that moment to get me through it. Hopefully everything will go all right.”