Mick Schumacher Tipped as he let go $1,400,000,000 Giant Makes Enticing Offer for ...

Mick Schumacher completed the announced test in the Alpine hypercar last week. At the Formula 1 weekend in Austin, he was back in action as a substitute driver for Mercedes – and reported on the completely new experience he had in the Alpine racer.

“It’s a completely different feeling. The car is relatively big, relatively heavy. The cockpit is completely closed, which felt a bit claustrophobic at the beginning. But I got used to it relatively quickly. In terms of racing, it’s a bit different because you share the car. That is exciting in a way. The car has to last 24 hours. It’s a different challenge,” said Schumacher, who will probably not get a regular cockpit in the premier class for 2024.

That’s why he definitely wants to race again, and the WEC would be a possibility. The changeover was not that easy, Schumacher explained. According to Schumacher, the fact that you can’t really see the front tyres is special, for example.

“You never notice whether the tyre stops or not. You have little lights that indicate that, but nothing else. It was a bit abstract to sit in there in a completely closed cockpit and not get any wind. But the biggest change for me was the draught in the back. There is a cooling system that blows air in and I was not really prepared for that at the beginning,” Schumacher said.

The setup was not optimal, he said. “We had the Le Mans set-up on a track where high downforce set-up is the order of the day. That’s why it felt slow and very sluggish. But of course that also comes from the weight at 1000 kilograms. You also have traction control, which is a completely different driving experience.”

And where do we go from here? That remains to be seen. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had stressed that the Silver Arrows would keep Schumacher as a substitute if it could be reconciled with an Alpine commitment.

He announced: After leaving Austin, “we’ll have another look at everything and then hopefully have some options”.

USA GP, Circuit of the Americas
01 Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull, 56 laps in 1:35:21.362 hrs
02 Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +10.730
03 Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, +15.134
04 Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, +18,460
05 George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +24.999
06 Pierre Gasly (F), Alpine, +47.996
07 Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, +48.696
08 Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, +1:14.385 min
09th Alex Albon (T), Williams, +1:26.714
10th Logan Sargeant (USA), Williams, +1:27.998
11th Nico Hülkenberg (D), Haas, +1:29.904
12th Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, +1:38.601
13th Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
14th Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +1 lap
15th Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), AlphaTauri, +1 lap
Out
Fernando Alonso (E), Aston Martin, damage to underbody
Oscar Piastri (AUS), McLaren, collision damage
Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, collision damage
Disqualified
Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes
Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari

World Championship standings (after 18 of 22 Grand Prix, incl. 5 of 6 sprints)
Drivers
01 Verstappen 466 points

Pérez 240
Hamilton 201
Alonso 183
Sainz 171
Norris 159
07 Leclerc 151
Russell 143
09th Piastri 83
10th Gasly 56
11th Gasly 52
11th Stroll 53
12th Ocon 44
13th Albon 25
14th Bottas 10
15th Hülkenberg 9
16th Tsunoda 8
17th Zhou 6
18th Magnussen 3
19th Lawson 2
20th Sargeant 1
21st De Vries 0
22nd Ricciardo 0