The Alpine F1 team has shown an interest in former Haas driver Mick Schumacher as a possible candidate for any open seats that open up at the squad in 2025.
Currently the team has an all-French line-up consisting of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, with Ocon scoring the their only championship point of the season so far with tenth place in Miami compared to seven points for rivals Haas.
Unsurprisingly that's led to rumours that both Ocon and Gasly are keen to find other teams next year, and that the team itself might be looking to change things up in 2025.
One of the potential new recruits that's caught the eye of Alpine team principal Bruno Famin is Mick Schumacher, who as well as being the current Mercedes F1 team reserve driver is also racing for Alpine in the World Endurance Championship.
Schumacher is part of a Hypercar line-up consisting of Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere, with Famin telling Motorsport.com that he had been really impressed by what Schumacher had done in the first few races.
"Mick is making an incredible job in endurance," he said. "What is very impressive is his mindset.
"Of course he's fast, but I think everybody knows he's fast. In Endurance it's not always useful to do a very good lap time because you have the BOP [Balance of Performance] on top and you have to be a bit careful with the performance.
"The point there is not to evaluate the pure performance of the driver," Famin explained. "But where Mick has been really incredible in his adaptation to the endurance mindset.
"We used to say that single-seater drivers are selfish," he continued. "Mick, from the very first minute, has been very open, very cooperative, really helpful for his team-mates, ready to learn everything, especially from endurance.
"A super mindset, super team spirit," he added, confirming that Schumacher is one of "many" possibilities being considered by Alpine for 2025 along with veteran driver Valtteri Bottas who looks set to depart Sauber.
The one thing that doesn't appear to be a major factor is nationality. Despite the Renault-operated squad having a French base and two French drivers at the moment, such a thing is not a priority for Famin next year.
Famin is also not feeling any pressure to make a snap decision and feels that he can take his time to get it right. In the meantime the team's attention is firmly on this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.
"Monaco is such a special place on the calendar and is synonymous with F1 and the history of motorsport," said Ocon who finished in third place in the Principality last year.
"I have very fond memories of this place, especially from the podium finish last year. Without a race in France, this can be considered a bit of a home race for us, alongside Silverstone.
"What Imola showed is that we must keep improving and working hard to understand the car more − extracting the most from the set-up at the different types of circuit we visit, starting already this week in Monaco."
Gasly felt that his performance at Imola proved that there "are just small things to get right and I know we are getting there as a team" but had also "exposed our weaknesses across our car package" which was lacking pace.
He said that this weekend the team would "work hard to get up to speed as quickly as possible and build up some confidence in the car."
"It’s probably as close as we get to France all season, so while it’s not a home race it does feel special for the team and us drivers in Monaco with so much French support," he said.
"It’s the race I most look forward to on the calendar. It’s high risk with high rewards, as we experienced as a team last year," he said. "I’m definitely ready to get going on track. It’s a legendary place. World famous and the most iconic place in motorsport.
"We’ll need a bit of magic on Saturday, and see where we’re at from there. I’m ready for it!"
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