Mick Schumacher F1 return rumoured with both Alpine drivers’ future uncertain – report

Mick Schumacher is reportedly a candidate to become an Alpine driver next season, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly both considering their options on the grid for 2025.

Alpine have struggled with an underperforming car at the start of the 2024 season and, with both drivers out of contract at the end of the year, neither has confirmed a new deal beyond the end of the campaign yet.

Mick Schumacher a possible contender for an Alpine seat?

Schumacher became Mercedes’ reserve driver after leaving Haas at the end of 2022 and signed for Alpine’s World Endurance Championship squad this year in Hypercars, to get back racing and look to get back into Formula 1.

And a report from German publication F1-Insider has claimed that both Ocon and Gasly are both looking for other seats on the grid for next season after their tough start to the year, and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is looking to help Schumacher find a way back onto the grid if he can.

The same report claims Ocon, who is still managed by Wolff and Mercedes as their junior driver, is a potential candidate to drive for Williams, as is highly-rated junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but any opening that may emerge at Alpine could open the door for Schumacher to return to Formula 1 – with Alpine team principal Bruno Famin said to have been impressed by his early outings in WEC.

When both current drivers were asked about their futures recently, neither driver was committed to a timeline over securing their futures with the team, but are both looking to bring more success to Alpine as soon as possible – and improve on their performances, after Ocon scored their first point of the season in Miami last time out.

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“Yeah, there are a couple of good signings for the team,” Gasly said in Miami.

“I think [the] big picture is we know that car is not well born, and it does happen that some years you get it right, and some years, you just get it wrong.

“And I think the most important [thing] is how we are able to react from it. So I’m aware that it does take some time. I can’t expect a massive change in a very short space of time, but I feel like we’ve got enough data now to really spot what’s working and what’s not.

“Then it’s a matter of how we tackle it, because you’re almost in May, obviously looking at this current season and what’s achievable, what’s possible for next year, and at the same time, ‘26 as well, which is going to require a lot of work and a complete new car.

“So there is quite a lot to consider, but I can see all the processes that goes at the factory and, at the end of the day, I’m aware it’s going to take time, but it’s important we do react and not stay with what we’ve got at the minute, which is not competitive enough.”

“You never know what the future will hold,” Ocon added. “Obviously, I’m working flat out with the team.

“I’ve always, believed and being inside that project now for a while and you know, I’ve signed [for] three years, three years ago for a reason.

“We’ll see what happens in the future, but at the moment, I’m working race by race, and we’ll see what the future holds.”

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