Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto expects Ferrari Academy Driver Mick Schumacher to have a tough Formula One debut with Haas next year before getting more up to speed in 2022.
Mick, the son of Ferrari great and seven times F1 world champion Michael, won the Formula Two title this year and has graduated to the U.S.-owned team with close ties to Maranello. Haas scored only three points this season and ended up ninth of the 10 teams.
“I think it will be very difficult for him at the start,” Binotto told reporters in a video conference when asked what he expected from the 21-year-old Ferrari Academy driver – “If I look at his past experience in both F2 and F3, normally he is delivering his best in the second season and not the first.
“I think Mick, the way he has developed himself, is learning a lot on the first season and becomes very strong in the second half of the second season. That’s why I think two seasons will be important for him. But already on the second I’m expecting to see progress compared to the first one.” – Mattia Binotto added.
Scuderia Ferrari have held open the possibility of Schumacher one day racing for them but they have Charles Leclerc on a long-term contract while Spaniard Carlos Sainz has signed an initial two-year deal that could be extended.
They also have close ties with Swiss-based Alfa Romeo, who could also be a future destination for Schumacher after Haas, depending on progress: “The Ferrari Driver Academy was not created to raise Formula 1 drivers, but the next driver for Ferrari. Today it is too early to decide but there are the premises to see Mick in red in 2023.” – the Ferrari boss concluded.
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