Mick’s Diary: 2024 Plans, Final Races of the Season & More

Time for one final check-in of the 2023 Formula One season. Here’s the last chapter of Mick’s Diary for this year.

Catching up with our Reserve Driver, Mick Schumacher, to hear all about the final races of the season, what he made of Las Vegas and his plans for the winter. We also hear from him on his 2024 plans now that they’ve been officially announced.

Hi everyone. It’s been a busy couple of weeks so there’s plenty to update you on for my last diary of the 2023 season.

It’s been a very long season for everybody and we’re going to have a longer one next year. Everyone is bracing themselves for it. On the other hand, it’s good to know we’ve completed the year with a successful learning path and securing P2 in the Constructors’ Championship.

I’ve also learned a lot over the season and my knowledge base, every time I went in the car I felt like I did take steps forward. Obviously, the simulator work helped with the development of the W14 so I’m excited to see what next year holds.

The Story of the Fight for P2 in Abu Dhabi

All of the races at the end of the year have been flyaways so I’ve not been on the race support, like I am for the Europeans. It’s a very different approach to the weekend as for flyaways I am there from Thursday onwards so I am much more involved on the ground, but for most of the Europeans I’m in the simulator and only get to the track on Saturday.

But both have their charm and have their individual way of learning and taking what’s important from the weekend.

We all worked very hard to try and get the car back up to speed.

Mick

We’ve finished the season with an intense run of races. You can never really combat all the travel and the time zones, you just have to survive it really. Probably one of the most difficult parts of F1 is switching time zones.

Vegas was a tough cookie. I unfortunately got sick when I arrived there and I didn’t really recover until the end of the weekend. Luckily everything’s all good but from what I saw of Vegas, the schedule was quite tough but there were lots of positives and I’d never been to Vegas before so it was an interesting experience.

As a team, we win and lose together and when things are difficult, you definitely feel that. All I want to do is help the team to success and we all worked very hard to try and get the car back up to speed. Especially now with the W15 already in the works, we all are 100% focused on trying to have a successful 2024.

Meet the Team Behind the Team

It’s a great opportunity to stay with the team for next year as the Reserve Driver and keep on learning, keep building on what we’ve achieved this year. I think we’re all very keen to get started and on track with the W15 so it will be very nice to be part of that process.

I can also continue to build on all the relationships with the team. It’s been good to spend so much time with everyone and get to know also, the people who have been here when my dad was. It’s a very special team and a very special bond that they have.

I’m a racer, I always was a racer, so I’ll be racing next year and that’s what I do best.

Mick

I’m also really excited to be back racing in the World Endurance Championship with Alpine. I’m a racer, I always was a racer, so I’ll be racing next year and that’s what I do best. Not racing this year was tough so I’m just really looking forward to being on the road and fighting.

In between, we have a bit of a break so I’ll be recharging my batteries. Get ready for racing next year and try to build on what we’ve done in 2023.

I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who’s read these diary entries through the year. But most importantly thanks to all the fans for sticking with me. It’s been a tough year and we never give up, we always try to give our best.

Thank you for being there every step of the way and I’m excited for what next year holds. Believe me, I’m still working hard on also the step to hopefully being back in F1.