Mick Schumacher has been confirmed as Scuderia Ferrari’s Formula 1 reserve driver for 11 Grands Prix in the 2022 season, as the Haas driver will share the tasks with Antonio Giovinazzi, who has left Alfa Romeo and will not be on the F1 grid for next year.
Mick Schumacher will also continue with Haas in the 2022 campaign, but will be available to be called up should either Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz be unavailable to take part in a Grand Prix weekend.
Should that happen, Haas has Pietro Fittipaldi, who contested two races at the end of 2020 as Romain Grosjean’s stand-in, signed up as its reserve driver to take over for Mick/
Antonio Giovinazzi, who raced for Alfa Romeo from 2019-2021 but has signed up for the Dragon Racing team to race in Formula E next year, was keen to keep a foothold in Formula 1 next year, as he hopes to return in 2023. He is well regarded by the Maranello team as a result of his simulator driving work and will be on site for 12 races as Scuderia Ferrari’s reserve. He will also be available as a reserve for customer teams Alfa Romeo and Haas.
Mick Schumacher has been on Ferrari’s books since joining its driver academy three years ago, as Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto explained that his familiarity with the 2022 cars will be valuable if he is called up. The Ferrari boss also confirmed that this role is also because Mick Schumacher remains a contender for a long-term future with the Ferrari F1 team.
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“The reason we have the Ferrari Driver Academy is to identify the next Ferrari driver for the future,” said Mattia Binotto when asked about Mick Schumacher – “Being part of it, if you are doing well, no doubt you may have opportunities. He’s already had one season in F1, which is important. Mick through the season did well, he improved himself not only in terms of consistency, but as well in terms of speed. If you look at the last races, he was a lot closer to the cars ahead and Haas didn’t develop the car at all. The fact he was closer proved he had a good improvement on the speed itself. He will be driving 2022 cars next year, they will be a lot different to the current one in terms of driving style. It will be important to have one driver who knows those cars being reserve. I can count still on Antonio because he’s a good driver. He will have a full programme of simulator [driving] to bring him up to speed in terms of 2022 driving style.” – he added.
Scuderia Ferrari continues to play an important part in Mick Schumacher’s progress as a driver and it tracked his improvement closely during the current year. Despite the fact that the German driver was not able to score points during the 2021 campaign, with a P12 as a best finish, he constantly outperformed team-mate Nikita Mazepin and made a positive impression in his rookie season.
“We are still coaching him as a driver. In 2021, he was followed by Ferrari engineers to support him in his development. And that will continue into next year. The simulator will be available to him in Maranello. But we have an entire programme. As still part of our academy, it’s part of our objective to continuously develop them as drivers. The final objective is one day if they are able to prove they are capable of being a Ferrari driver.” – Mattia Binotto added.
Antonio Giovinazzi still has aspirations of returning to Formula 1 in 2023, which is why he has stressed the importance of keeping a foothold in F1.
The Ferrari Team Principal feels Antonio Giovinazzi could have a chance to return to the sport taking into consideration the many seats that could potentially be free in 2023. However, a Ferrari race seat is not realistically among those options given it is almost certain to re-sign Carlos Sainz for 2023.
“With Antonio, in 2023 no doubt there can be some more opportunities for him to find a seat. There are 11 seats, I think, which will be free in 2023. I’m not saying all of them will be free [given some drivers will re-sign], but if I look at the contracts of drivers, 11 are finishing by the end of 2022, including Carlos. As a driver, a few are possible, which is why I think it’s important for him to still be part of our F1 programme as reserve, still doing activities in the simulator and keeping him up to speed with 2022 cars.”
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