Schumacher to test Alpine F1 car as team mulls over Ocon replacement

Mick Schumacher will test an Alpine Formula 1 car next week as the team continues to consider its options for its 2025 driver line-up.

The French squad is currently evaluating drivers for next year after announcing earlier this month that it would part company with Esteban Ocon at the end of the current season, while team-mate Pierre Gasly's contract also expires after 2024.

Autosport revealed earlier on Monday that Alpine has emerged as a contender to secure Carlos Sainz for next year, but the Spaniard is also known to have offers from Sauber/Audi and Williams.

Alpine's new consultant Flavio Briatore apparently has concrete ideas about who he would like to see in the team next year, saying Gasly is doing his job "well".

"Maybe we'll put a young driver next to him. Or even an older one," Briatore said in Spain in an interview with Canal+.

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Schumacher, who lost his Haas seat after 2023 and is now a Mercedes reserve, will have an opportunity to show his potential as a candidate on 3 July, when he will complete a test day in an A522 from the 2022 season at Paul Ricard.

He is associated with Alpine through its Hypercar programme in the World Endurance Championship, where he has been racing the #36 A424 LMDh alongside sportscar racing stalwarts Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.

While Gasly is expected to be retained by Alpine, Autosport's sister site Motorsport-Total.com reports it is not a given he will stay on at the Enstone-based team, as the Frenchman is also on the list of candidates Audi boss Andrea Seidl is considering for his team should Sainz decide to go elsewhere, a possibility that appears to be increasing every day.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Red Bull junior Liam Lawson is also a candidate for the Sauber/Audi drive.

Sauber has an opening for 2025, when current Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg will join the squad ahead of its change of identity to Audi in 2026.

Schumacher, the son of seven-time world champion Michael, will not be the only young driver allowed to drive the A522 in the Le Castellet test, as Alpine's Australian test driver Jack Doohan is also scheduled to take part.

With Sainz still a possibility as he is yet to confirm his plans following his exit from Ferrari, it is not a foregone conclusion that Alpine will decide between Schumacher and Doohan following the Paul Ricard 'shootout'.