Alpine may consider bringing in current Haas driver Mick Schumacher over to the team as Fernando Alonso’s replacement in 2023.
Alonso dropped a bombshell on the F1 community when he announced his switch to Aston Martin for the 2023 season. The Spaniard, now 41 years old, is showing no signs of slowing down and signed a multi-year deal with the Silverstone-based outfit.
With his departure, Alpine made the blunder of announcing Oscar Piastri as his replacement before consulting him. The 2021 F2 Champion announced that he won’t be with Alpine in 2023, which turned out to be an embarrassing moment for the French outfit. McLaren are reportedly set to ax Daniel Ricciardo and bring Piastri in as a replacement.
This leaves Alpine’s seat for 2023 potentially empty and some big names have been linked to it. Ricciardo has been the most heavily linked name to the Alpine seat up until now, but Laurent Rossi’s team may be looking for a cheaper option elsewhere.
Mick Schumacher may partner with Esteban Ocon for Alpine’s 2023 lineup
Ocon has been in Alpine since the 2020 season (back when the team was still known as Renault). Last year he signed a multi-year extension with them, and his place in Enstone seems to be secure for the near future at least.
Signing Ricciardo will definitely be costly for Rossi. He’s one of the most marketable and popular drivers on the grid. In spite of his struggles at McLaren, he brings some impressive racing accolades with him wherever he goes. One option Rossi may consider as an alternative will be Mick Schumacher.
The 23-year old impressed in his rookie season with Haas in 2021. This season saw him struggle immensely in the opening rounds, but he has shown great form lately. Schumacher is a huge talent, and brings a lot of attention with him owing to his legendary surname. As a result, Alpine may consider singing him as number two driver to Ocon for next year.
“It turns out now that Laurent Rossi, the CEO of Alpine has been mucking up a lot of stories over the past couple of years. He has followed Mick Schumacher on social media,” said Alexey Popov of Match TV.
“In short, Ocon is now the lead driver. And Mick is young but has gained enough experience for his third season. So there is a lot of talk about him.”
