Flavio Briatore closes door on Mick for Alpine’s final seat

Flavio Briatore says Mick Schumacher is not in contention for the only real vacancy on the 2026 Formula 1 grid - at Alpine.

With Red Bull’s situation now essentially resolved - Yuki Tsunoda almost certainly set to leave, Isack Hadjar likely to move up alongside Max Verstappen, and Arvid Lindblad first in line to join Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls - Alpine remains the only truly unsettled team.

Ralf Schumacher told T-Online that his nephew Mick’s hopes are essentially gone, and that Tsunoda may also be out of Formula 1 entirely. “He’s lucky that the team has already announced they want to finish the season with him,” Ralf said.

“Something fundamental would have to change in the coming races for him to stay, but I fear Tsunoda will continue driving as he has been – and won’t even have a Formula 1 cockpit next year.”

Although Tsunoda had been mentioned in connection with Alpine, Briatore indicated the focus is on other drivers. “I’m still open to the second cockpit,” the Alpine chief told Auto Motor und Sport.

Maybe I should sign a Formula E driver? But seriously. We’re still open. The two experienced drivers (Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez) are going to Cadillac. Let’s see how our young drivers perform over the rest of the season. We have Colapinto, we have (Paul) Aron, and we’ll also test again with (Jack) Doohan.”

Briatore conceded that Colapinto, despite early struggles, is currently in pole position.

“Doohan had too many accidents. Colapinto was also disappointing at the beginning. We thought he’d perform better. Now he’s slowly getting into his stride. He knows the car better and feels more comfortable,” he said. He also confirmed Perez was briefly an option.

“Perez called me. He asked me what our plans were, but at the same time, he said he was close to reaching an agreement with Cadillac. I couldn’t offer him anything at the time,” Briatore noted. When asked about Mick Schumacher, he was unequivocal: “He’s not on our list.”

Ralf Schumacher admitted that is a tough reality. “He’s been out of Formula 1 for a few years now, and you could say he’s running out of time,” Ralf said.

“And we mustn’t forget, there are already a number of younger drivers pushing from Formula 2, such as Alex Dunne and Arvid Lindblad, both of whom have a good chance of making it to Formula 1 in the near future. It’s not going to get any easier for Mick, that’s for sure.”