The British engineer, best known for his supporting role in Jacques Villeneuve’s 1997 World Championship title at Williams, has played a senior technical role at Ferrari since joining the team from Mercedes in 2015.
Since the beginning of Charles Leclerc’s first season with the team in 2019, Clear has worked as a driver-trainer for the Monegasque, acting as a useful interface between the Alfa Romeo graduate and the Maranello team engineers who have grown used to working together.
Following recent discussions, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has announced that Clear could expand his role by helping Ferrari’s other junior drivers – including Schumacher, F2 race winner Robert Shwartzman and newly announced test driver Callum Ilott.
“Jock Clear is a great person and a great professional and has been with Ferrari for many years,” said Binotto.
“We have had a few talks with Jock in the last few weeks and would like to develop him further as a driver-trainer, not only for Charles, but also for the future of our own young drivers who we have at the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA).
“Next year we have Mick in Haas, who is starting his experience in F1, but we still have young drivers competing in F2 – like Robert Shwartzman, for example. And there is Callum Ilott, who will be our test driver next year. [who] will do simulator and will do free exercises.
“So Jock’s role will be to help all of these drivers develop as drivers and make the most of their potential.”
Binotto said the role of the driver-trainer is important in assessing performance on the track and finding areas where improvement can be made.
“He supports the drivers to perform and to give their best,” said Binotto.
“He looks at their lines, looks at the way they brake through corners, accelerate and manage tires.
“They are there to support the race engineers, performance engineers and drivers and to ensure that the driver develops well.”
Schumacher rises to Haas in the next season after his title campaign with Prema in F2, in which he defeated UNI Virtuosi driver Ilott.
