Lapierre Considering Retirement for Alpine Management Role

Nicolas Lapierre has revealed he is considering retiring as a driver at the end of the year in favor of a management role within the Alpine FIA World Endurance Championship team.

The veteran French driver has been part of the WEC since its launch in 2012, and made his first appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in 2007.

His links with Alpine and its partner squad Signatech go back t0 2016, when he first joined the team in LMP2, winning that year’s world title and his second of four Le Mans victories in the secondary prototype class.

Lapierre was part of Alpine’s first effort in the Hypercar class in 2021 with a grandfathered ORECA LMP1 car, and returned to the team this year for the first season with the A424 LMDh that he helped to develop.

However, the 40-year-old is now weighing up whether to call time on a career that has yielded 17 WEC wins, including eight in the top class, a victory in the Mobil 1 Sebring 12 Hours in 2018 and an A1 GP title, on top of his successes at Le Mans.

“For me it was really important to race this year because I was part of this project from the beginning and I wanted to be there in the first year,” Lapierre told Sportscar365.

“But now I have turned 40 and I am looking for the next chapter in my career. I enjoy working outside of the car as well, so I am considering it.

“Right now the championship is so nice and it’s cool to drive with so many manufacturers. I had years in the top class when it was not really like this and I really enjoy it as a driver. It’s not an easy decision. I’m thinking about it.”

Lapierre is already involved in team management with European Le Mans Series squad Cool Racing, for which he became team principal in early 2021.

The Frenchman admitted that his experience with Cool has prompted him to consider a full-time switch to team management sooner than he may have done otherwise.

“It’s going really well with the team, and I enjoy it a lot, as much as driving,” he said. “For sure that might push me to stop racing a bit early and focus on this.

“I think I can do a good job on this and enjoy it as well. We’ll see, it’s not decided yet.

“I am speaking to Bruno [Famin] and Philippe [Sinault] about it, it’s an open discussion, but we need to decide before the end of the year. I would be happy in both cases.”

Should Lapierre elect to stand down from driving, current Alpine reserve driver Jules Gounon would be an obvious candidate to take his place.

However, team principal Philippe Sinault said it was too early to say if Gounon could be promoted to a race seat in 2025 when asked by Sportscar365.

“We are really happy about the job done by Jules,” said Sinault. “It’s not the right time to talk about this and to make the point about this, but for sure in the next few weeks we will have more info to deliver to you.”

Schumacher Evasive on Alpine WEC Future

Lapierre is not the only Alpine driver whose place on the roster appears in doubt, as Mick Schumacher has admitted he “truly doesn’t know” his future at the French marque.

Schumacher has been open about his aspirations of returning to Formula 1 after losing his drive with Haas in the championship at the end of 2022, with his Alpine WEC drive marking his first race program since then.

He had been considered a candidate to race for Alpine in F1 next season, but lost out to Jack Doohan, and was also passed over by Williams in favor of Franco Colapinto when it needed a replacement for Logan Sargeant for the final part of the season.

With few seats for next season remaining, Schumacher admitted his options in the grand prix paddock are “narrowing” but refused to commit to staying with Alpine in the WEC if he doesn’t secure a drive in F1 when asked by Sportscar365.

“I truly don’t know, if I did I would say it,” Schumacher replied.

“I think that there’s always going to be a possibility elsewhere in motorsport. There’s always going to be an open door, somewhere hopefully for me and I’ll go for that Plan B once I know what Plan A looks like.”

On whether any other form of sports car racing could interest him, the German said: “There’s nothing out there right now that gives me the same feeling as F1.”

Davey Euwema contributed to this report