Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said that having Mick Schumacher driving for Haas during the 2021 Formula 1 season is a “great opportunity” for the team.
Mick Schumacher has come through the junior ranks as a Ferrari Driver Academy member, winning F3 European Championship in 2018 and F2 in 2020. Following his success last season, he secured a seat to drive for Ferrari customer team Haas, who have used Ferrari engines and parts since their debut in F1 in 2016.
Looking ahead to Mick Schumacher’s first season in the sport, Binotto said that developing FDA prospects within F1 at a customer team was an “important element” for Ferrari.
“Mick Schumacher will be one of the drivers for Haas (this) year, which for us is a great opportunity, showing the strength of collaboration we’ve got,” he said, as reported by the Formula 1 Official Website. “Mick is part of our FDA and the FDA programme is not there to develop drivers for F1, but it’s there to develop drivers that one day may drive a Ferrari seat, a red car. When you move from F2 and jump into F1, the very first year cannot be directly into a red car because that would be too much responsibility and not enough experience. So knowing that we’ve got customer teams or partners on which we may count to continue developing our drivers in F1 is an important element.”- he explained.
Mick took part in a recent Ferrari test at Fiorano, where he sat behind the wheel of the 2018-spec SF71H car.
Race drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, as well as juniors Callum Ilott, Marcus Armstrong, Robert Shwartzmann and Giuliano Alesi, also took part across the five days.
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