Mick Schumacher, taking to the seat of Alpine’s hypercar last weekend, expressed immense satisfaction with his performance despite an early exit at his Le Mans debut. Driving for the French team in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, Schumacher’s stint was cut short when his car, along with its sister vehicle, succumbed to engine issues, withdrawing them from the race. Despite the setback, Schumacher focused on the positives, particularly highlighting the team’s impressive speed and cohesion before their premature withdrawal.
Schumacher and his teammates, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere, showcased their potential in the #36 car, demonstrating a formidable pace that hinted at a strong competition.
“We were very fast up to that point, which is a very big positive. We had an engine issue, which led us to retiring both cars, unfortunately. But again, I think not to have too much focused on the bad sides, but actually more focus on positives,” Schumacher recounted to the media after the race, quoted by F1i.
Though Alpine’s debut in the Hypercar class at Le Mans was marred by these technical issues, Schumacher chose to highlight the exhaustive preparations and significant learnings the team made during the event. He proudly stated:
“We’ve been here for many, many days, driving around this track for quite a while. And we’ve learned a lot about it, we’ve prepared it.”
Reflecting on team dynamics and their approach to the race, the young Mercedes reserve driver pointed out the growth and adaptability displayed by the French squad.
“I think we grew together as a team, we managed to put stuff behind us, in form of issues that we’ve encountered. And then we really moved on from them to get to a point where we were fighting for pole, we were fighting for good positioning in the race, up to that point,” he explained.
Despite the frustrations of an early exit, Schumacher took a moment to express gratitude towards the Alpine and Renault group for their support, which has been crucial in his transition to endurance racing as his F1 hopes continue to be squashed.
“The Alpine endurance team has been so good to me, in these first three races, prepared me for this one big one. And I really, really appreciate it, especially my teammates have been day in day out whenever we were on track, but also off track really helpful and kind of trying to tell me what to manage.”
Looking forward, Schumacher is ready to utilize his learnings. “I think now, at this point, what is left to do is just to make sure that we as team understand what happened, so that we can fix it for next time,” he stated firmly.
Schumacher’s debut at Le Mans, albeit challenging, has laid a solid foundation for his future in endurance racing. With a clear focus on improvement, Schumacher and the Alpine team are poised to return stronger, learning from the tribulations of their inaugural Hypercar class experience.
Uncommon Knowledge
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