The details about Mick Schumacher ’plan B’ for 2024 are now beginning to emerge.
Motorsport Aktuell, a German-language weekly, claims the axed Haas racer and current Mercedes reserve is in detailed talks with Renault-owned Alpine.
Alpine, of course, has a Formula 1 team, but it is believed German Schumacher, 24, is being lined up to race the French sports carmaker’s new Hypercar at Le Mans next year.
Bruno Famin, the new interim F1 team boss at Alpine, is said to have been in touch with Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm about a test in the new Hypercar in the coming weeks.
The news comes as another door back onto the F1 grid closed for Schumacher, with Alfa Romeo-Sauber signing a new deal with Guanyu Zhou - even though the Chinese was pushing for a multiple-year contract.
"It’s settled for next year," Zhou said in Singapore. "So I’m secured in 2024, and after that, how the team settles into another project (Audi) will be decided after that year to keep the options open."
Another potential opening for Schumacher is at Williams, but insiders believe the Oxfordshire-based team is in fact poised to retain the services of American rookie Logan Sargeant.
"Alex (Albon) is here for a long time, I can already tell you that," team boss James Vowles sid. "For Logan, he’s on the right track, he just needs to keep pushing the pace race by race."
As for Alpha Tauri, the latest rumours suggest Yuki Tsunoda could be pushed aside to a reserve role at Red Bull next year. That’s because Liam Lawson has impressed whilst substituting for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
"Right now, it’s race by race," New Zealander Lawson, 21, said in Singapore.
"But I think now that I’ve had a taste, it’s definitely something I’ve fallen in love with. And I don’t think I can settle for anything less."