Alpine will test two drivers in a two-year-old Formula 1 car next week as the team considers its future driver options.
The team announced last month Esteban Ocon will leave at the end of the season. While Alpine is seeking at least one new driver, Pierre Gasly is also out of contract at the end of the year, and it could opt for an all-new line-up.
It confirmed today Mercedes reserve driver Mick Schumacher will test for them next week. Schumacher is also a member of Alpine’s World Endurance Championship team, but he is yet to score a point this year in the car he shares with Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.
Alpine’s reserve driver Jack Doohan will also test for them again. Doohan, who finished third in Formula 2 last season, is not racing this year but drove Ocon’s car in first practice in Montreal, his fifth such appearance for the team since 2022.
Asked in Spain whether he had a list of drivers under consideration for next year, team principal Bruno Famin said: “The list looks good and the process is progressing well.”
The pair will drive Alpine’s A522 at Paul Ricard next week. The team said the run is part of their Testing of Previous Cars programme.
This is the first year F1 teams have been able to extensively test cars built for the revised technical regulations introduced in 2022 and several teams have taken advantage of the opportunity to run junior drivers in recent machinery. Mercedes have done the same with Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is under consideration to take Lewis Hamilton’s place next year, and Schumacher has also participated in tests driving their W14.
Schumacher is seeking to return to Formula 1 after being dropped by Haas at the end of 2022 following two years with the team.
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Formula 1
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