Ferrari have revealed they are constantly coaching Mick Schumacher on his way to a potential seat at Scuderia as he hopes to emulate his father Michael’s career in Formula 1. Schumacher was handed his F1 debut with Haas after winning the Formula Two title at the end of the 2020 season after a dramatic final race at Sakhir.
The German followed in the footsteps of Charles Leclerc and George Russell by stepping up straight away but struggled to make a big impact as the team refused to develop their 2021 car and instead focused on their 2022 car .
It was recently announced that the son of the seven-time world champion will officially share the reserve driver role at Ferrari with former Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi.
The German will fill in for Scuderia at 11 race weekends in 2022, with Giovinazzi, who has now moved to Formula E, the all-electric single-seater series, on standby for the other 12 events that don’t clash with his new commitments.
Assessing his performance, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said: “He was followed in 2021 by Ferrari engineers dedicated to the Ferrari Driver Academy program to help him in his development and that will continue next year. A simulator will be available to him at Maranello.”
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“If you’re a part of that and you’re doing well, there are definitely opportunities for you. He’s already had one season in Formula 1, which is important.
“I think Mick has done well throughout the season. He not only improved in terms of consistency, but also in terms of speed.
“If I look at the last few races, he was a lot closer to the cars in front of us, while Haas didn’t develop the car at all. The fact that he was closer proved he had a good improvement in speed himself.”
