Alpine's strong start to the 2025 World Endurance Championship has faded, but plans to return to form are already in place with the signing of Formula E champion Antonio Felix da Costa.
Alpine earned podium finishes at the Imola 6 Hours and the Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours, but the team has since fallen back into the pack, with best finishes of eighth at the Le Mans 24 Hours and ninth in the Sao Paulo 6 Hours.
But with the squad already looking to 2026, especially amid great uncertainty in the driver market, The Race understands Alpine has reacted quickly by securing the services of da Costa.
Why Alpine needs reinforcements
For its first season with the A424 in 2024, Alpine decided to place its trust in Paul-Loup Chatin / Charles Milesi / Ferdinand Habsburg and Matthieu Vaxiviere / Mick Schumacher / Nicolas Lapierre.
Last winter, Lapierre moved into a sporting director role, while Vaxiviere was demoted to reserve driver. To replace them, the team promoted its 2024 reserve Jules Gounon to a full-time seat and brought in Frederic Makowiecki, who joined from Porsche Penske Motorsport.
But as we revealed a few weeks ago, Mick Schumacher was expected to move to Cadillac in the upcoming off-season. Schumacher was lined up for a WEC seat with Team Jota, replacing Jenson Button, as well as taking up a Formula 1 reserve role. That forced Alpine to go looking for reinforcements.
The perfect solution?
To replace Schumacher, Alpine turned to a driver who had never hidden his frustration at being prevented by his employer from competing in the WEC in 2024 and 2025 alongside his Formula E commitments. That driver is, of course, Antonio Felix da Costa.
As The Race revealed last month, the 34-year-old is set to leave Porsche, the brand he joined in 2022, but with which relations have long since soured. While he will remain in Formula E next season - the series where he was crowned champion in 2019-20 - da Costa will also make his WEC return.
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Team Jota could have been the ideal solution for him, as he made the British team shine for four years. But the seat was supposed to be reserved for Schumacher.
Indeed, The Race understands that da Costa will join Alpine's WEC team. Known for his sharp development skills and his natural speed, da Costa also brings solid endurance racing experience, with seven Le Mans 24 Hours starts to his name, including a LMP2 win with Jota in 2022.
That year, da Costa also clinched the WEC title alongside Will Stevens and Roberto Gonzalez.
Charismatic, easy to work with, and an excellent team player, da Costa looks like the perfect signing.
Would a Schumacher U-turn change things?
When Alpine set out to recruit ex-Red Bull F1 junior da Costa, the idea was to find a replacement for Schumacher, who was expected to head to Cadillac. But the fact that he changed his mind has altered the plans of several teams, including Jota - and Alpine.
Yet this twist could actually turn into a blessing for Alpine, which thought it had lost its star driver but now sees a fresh chance to keep him. Alpine will do everything in its power to persuade him to stay. However, its chances of succeeding seem slim.
Schumacher has other ambitions. He is eyeing IndyCar, but above all, as The Race reported a few days ago, he is in talks with McLaren to join the British manufacturer's Hypercar programme.
But none of this changes anything for da Costa, whose move to Alpine is now beyond doubt.
And if Schumacher does ultimately change his mind, Alpine will do whatever it takes to make room for him, even if it means some collateral damage.
