This is what Mick and Co say about Alpine’s bankruptcy

For Mick Schumacher and Alpine, the 24 Hours of Le Mans was over after just five and a half hours. After his teammate Nicolas Lapierre had parked the car in the pits, both cars from the French manufacturer were out. In the case of both the #35 (Chatin/Habsburg/Milesi) and the #36, which Schumacher and Lapierre share with Matthieu Vaxiviere, engine failure was responsible for the end.

Schumacher’s Le Mans debut ended in disappointment, even though both the German and his car delivered convincing pace at times. In qualifying, Schumacher’s car narrowly missed the Hyperpole with Nicolas Lapierre at the wheel in P9. The sister car even made it to the qualifying decision on Thursday. In the race, the Alpine A424 was at times on a par with the competition from Porsche, Ferrari and Co. Schumacher even achieved the fastest race lap of the entire Alpine team with a lap time of 3:30.577.

Despite engine failure: Mick Schumacher draws positive conclusions after Le Mans 24h

After the race, the former Haas driver tried to highlight the positive experiences of the weekend: “I think we shouldn’t focus too much on the bad aspects, but rather look at the positive. We have been driving on this track for many days. And we have learned a lot about it. I think we have grown together as a team.”

He is also pleased with the pace at the highlight of the WEC season: “We were able to fight for the Hyperpole and we fought for a good position in the race until the end. And my personal stint was also very positive. I am very, very happy about it.”

What caused the engine failure? Alpine announces investigation

The 3-4 litre V6 engine in the Alpine A424 is a drive from the French engine manufacturer Mecachrome. Schumacher refrained from blaming the team or the supplier. “I think that now it’s just a matter of us as a team understanding what happened so that we can fix it for next time and hopefully see the end of the race in the future,” he added.

Alpne’s motorsport boss Bruno Famin said after the 24-hour race: “We knew that the debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans would be a steep learning curve – especially because it is only the fourth race for the A424. But that does not change our disappointment.” Famin announced an immediate analysis: “We will analyze the reasons for this mechanical problem so that we can come back stronger next year.”

In the previous three In the WEC races of the season in Qatar, Imola and Spa, both Alpines reached the finish line, but mostly with a lap deficit. In the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Renault brand’s vehicle duo fell back somewhat in the early stages. This was partly due to a conservative driving style in order not to endanger the car, as driver Charles Milesi explained, and partly due to a wrong tire decision in the first rain shower. However, both were still on the leading lap until their respective retirements.