Bruno Famin, vice president of motorsport at the Renault brand, explained that the deal for Mercedes F1 reserve to race the new Alpine A242 LMDh prototype in 2024 announced this week was already in motion before he was given a try-out in the car at Jerez in October.
“Talking in the F1 paddock with the Mick, when you are discussing, you don’t defy an opportunity to have him in the team,” said Famin.
“To have the opportunity to have such a good and fast driver, I don’t see why we would miss it.
“I am convinced that in F1 he is underestimated and don’t forget he is Formula 2 champion, Formula 3 champion - he has a lot of very good skills.”
Schumacher, son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael, will help “push the bar higher” at the Alpine Endurance Team run in conjunction with the French Signtech squad, according to Famin.
“He is still a Mercedes reserve driver and he has a vey long experience, a very good experience of what is a top-level F1 team: he will bring us some ideas, some methodologies,” he said.
Famin explained that the brief run at Jerez in October was to see if Schumacher liked the car and was happy in the team.
“The test was made for him to learn this kind of car because he has made his career so far with open-wheel cars,” said Famin.
“It was for him to discover the endurance world; it was him to his own mind to know if he would be happy to have a full programme [with Alpine] or not.”
Source: Autosport