Schumacher reveals Le Mans debut 'helped' by F1

Mick Schumacher has revealed that he has brought several parts from Formula 1 with him to the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend, to help his debut in the prestigious race. 

The Mercedes F1 reserve driver is competing for Alpine in the 92nd running of the event at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the outfit he has raced for this season in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). 

Racing in the legendary endurance race is considerably different to F1, with the German driver recognising just how much he has to be aware of throughout the 24 hours. 

Ahead of this weekend's action, the former Haas driver discussed the main points that make the Le Mans 24 Hours so unique and where it is different to F1.

"I think, obviously, one of the big points here is there's always something happening," Schumacher told select media including RacingNews365. 

"You always have traffic, you always have to think about strategy, you also have to make sure that you're trying to get to the end of your stint. You also drive a lot which is great, you have a lot of track time usually in the race itself.

"Obviously, in practices you kind of share, so that's a bit shorter than usual. But I think still the preparation of the weekend is very similar in some ways, the tools that we have in the car are similar."

Le Mans demands

Getting up to speed as quickly as possible is vital to a successful weekend for Schumacher and Alpine, with the 25-year-old partnering Matthieu Vaxiviere and Nicolas Lapierre.

The highlight of the WEC season is one of the most demanding races in the world, if not the most demanding. 

Whilst Schumacher already has some experience from earlier in the year in WEC, dealing with things such as traffic for such a long period of time is an immense challenge. 

As mentioned, he has taken things from F1 to support himself this weekend, to ensure he is as comfortable as possible.

"So there is a lot of parts from Formula 1 that I could bring over that helped me," Schumacher added. 

"Of course, in the race itself it's maybe more demanding in some ways because you have the GTs and you have the multi-class system, which obviously here will be quite tough and we experienced that in the prologue and also the free practice sessions.

"There are a lot of cars out there and if you happen to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time it really can be very costly. So it just adds to the challenge."