Said to have received his fourth F1 rejection letter, the good news for Mick Schumacher is there’s one team that believes he’s a “key point” for their success, and that’s the Alpine WEC team.

Failing to find a way back onto the Formula 1 grid this year, but determined to be race-sharp, Schumacher signed with Alpine to drive their Alpine A424 LMDh in the World Endurance Championship.

Alpine are pushing to re-sign Mick Schumacher for the 2025 WEC

He, however, made it clear from the get-go that finding a way back onto the Formula 1 grid for the 2025 championship was his number one priority.

That looks very unlikely with Mercedes, Williams and Alpine all naming other drivers while Audi are said to have “finally decided against” him as Nico Hulkenberg’s team-mate.

But it’s not all doom and gloom for the 25-year-old as Alpine’s WEC team are very keen on signing him for a second season.

Philippe Sinault, team principal of Signatech Alpine told Motorsport.com: “It’s difficult to say. I hope [he stays].

“We push and we say to him immediately that for us it’s a really really key point that he must stay with us.

“But nothing [is] in my hand. Formula 1 is still Formula 1. We have to wait again. I hope in the short term we have some news about that.”

He added: “I think we did a good job together. I’m so happy about his level of performance, his pace, his commitment, I think he is quite happy about the job also.

“If he is not in F1, we are closer to continue to work together.”

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Alpine and Mick Schumacher waiting for the Audi announcement

Meanwhile, Alpine motorsport boss Bruno Famin concedes Schumacher’s future hinged on the as-yet-unconfirmed Audi seat. Although Bild claims he’s out of the running, other publications say he’s a leading candidate.

Alpine, like Schumacher, are waiting for the announcement.

Asked what the French manufacturer can do to persuade Schumacher, Famin replied: “To be better. It’s not only what the team can do, it’s [about his personal choice].

“We all know that Mick’s number one priority would be if he had the possibility [to return to F1], but we know that there is only one [seat] left to have the opportunity to go back to Formula 1.

“Let’s see what we do, what will be the final decision. From our side we will be happy [if he stays].”

“I’m very happy with Mick,” he added. “He has done a very good job. His adaptation to endurance has been incredible, very fast, very good, everybody knows that for a single-seater driver it’s not easy.

“And especially for him at the beginning of the year he was really focused on how to get a seat in Formula 1 and he is still on that.

“But if you put that aside, he is really focused on the programme. We saw again in Austin how fast he was during the race.

“I’m very happy with Mick, if we have the opportunity to continue together we are really happy.”

Schumacher, and his team-mates Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere secured the maiden podium for Alpine’s Hypercar at the Fuji round of the championship.

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