Schumacher hopeful Alpine WEC opportunity will pave way back to F1 as he compares move to his father's career

Mick Schumacher has drawn comparisons to his father's career path as the Mercedes reserve driver gets set to make the move to the World Endurance Championship with Alpine in 2024.

Schumacher made the move up to F1 with Haas in 2021, but he lost his seat after two seasons. He later joined the Silver Arrows as their third driver for the 2023 campaign – a role he is now set to continue in 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘I have to prove I still deserve a chance in F1’ – Mick Schumacher on losing his Haas seat, and his plan to get back on the grid

The German will also make the move to WEC with the hope of worming his way back onto the Formula 1 grid in the future. His father, Michael, similarly raced sportscars before debuting for Jordan in the middle of the 1991 season at Spa.

The seven-time world champion was part of Mercedes’ junior driver programme that took part in the 1990 World Sportscar Championship, and also raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“I’m kind of doing it the other way round so why not,” said Schumacher. “I always found there was a lot of coincidences, which kind of seem similar to my dad’s career. But now I am going to sportscars myself so maybe that will be my start back to [F1] halfway in the season somewhere in Spa.

“I think that, obviously, it’s an interesting chapter for my career and to be able to look back at what he's done with the Mercedes junior programme back in 1989, I think it was an interesting factor.”

With Schumacher set to be part of Alpine’s WEC foray, the German was asked whether the fact that the French outfit also have an F1 team played a part in his decision to join them. He replied: “Honestly, I haven't thought that far.

READ MORE: Mick Schumacher makes switch to endurance racing with Alpine after ‘difficult’ year on the sidelines

“Obviously, [Mercedes and Alpine] are competitors in Formula 1, that's just me talking out loud, I don't think there will be much of a coexistence between the driver role and the reserve driver here, I don't think that will be possible.

“But again, I think that the construction of being part of WEC with Alpine and being able to promote myself also to Formula 1 with that, is a very interesting subject.”

Having sat out the year behind Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, Schumacher also shared where he feels he has improved as a driver over the last 12 months.

“I guess the biggest point for me to elaborate on that is I know as a driver now much more what I want from my team around me, from what I feel like I'm worth, and what I can bring to a team,” Schumacher explained.

READ MORE: Hamilton and Russell pay tribute to Schumacher for simulator work that contributed to double podium in Spain

“Obviously going into my first year in Formula 1 it was kind of hard to know exactly what should be my position and how far can I go with my comments and everything.

“And having worked with Lewis and George for one year now, I kind of know how high the bar is set and how far I can go, and I have no problem sharing my information in the future.”