Pietro Fittipaldi, who drove in the last two F1 races of 2020, will stay with Haas for a fourth season in 2022.
The Brazilian is the official test and reserve driver for the American-owned team and has participated in most of the Grand Prix races this year and last.
Fittipaldi was appointed deputy to Romain Grosjean at the 2020 Sakhir and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, whose terrible fireball crash in Bahrain ended his Formula 1 career due to his burned hands. Although Fittipaldi finished both races, he was the last of 17 and 19 finishers respectively.
We are happy to announce that @PiFitti will also be our official test and reserve driver in 2022 
# HaasF1 https://t.co/bawZZzBP7Z
– Haas F1 Team (@ HaasF1Team) December 9, 2021
“It was a very simple decision for us to keep Pietro as our official test and reserve driver,” said Haas team boss Günther Steiner.
“Pietro knows the inner workings of our team very well because he has been with us for so long.
“He showed us last year that he is ready to perform and drive when needed, and his presence on the team this year has obviously brought continuity as well.
“We look forward to continuing our relationship and look forward to having him back on board in 2022.”
Fittipaldi, 25, added: “I am of course very happy and excited about the opportunity to continue my collaboration with the Uralkali Haas F1 Team. I’ve been on the team for a few seasons now and they feel like family.
“I’ve learned a lot in my time and I hope that with the introduction of the new generation of Formula 1 cars in 2022 I can continue to contribute.
“It will be exciting to see what comes with the new package, and of course I’m just as excited as the rest of the team to see what the VF-22 will achieve on the right track.”
Fittipaldi will continue to be the backup of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, the rookie duo who got a second season at Haas in 2022 if the team hopes to advance from the back of the field under the new rules.
Fittipaldi was born in Miami, has double Brazilian-American citizenship and is the grandson of Emerson, the two-time former world champion.
His younger brother Enzo was hospitalized after an accident during a Formula 2 race in Saudi Arabia last weekend in which Theo Pourchaire was also involved.
The 20-year-old suffered a broken heel while Pourchaire tweeted that he had “headache, back pain, knee pain and left foot pain”.
