The American team of Formula 1, “Haas”, has already actually decided on its lineup for the 2021 season, according to a recent report from championat.com. As previously assumed, “Haas” plans to compete with two newcomers from Formula 2 – Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and German racer Mick Schumacher, representing the Ferrari Academy. According to the correspondent of “Championat” Maxim Vershinin, “Haas” has already signed contracts with both drivers, but is not ready to announce them yet.
The fact is that Mazepin is currently not guaranteed a super-license that allows him to compete in Formula 1. The Russian needs to score eight more points to get the coveted 40 for the super license. To do this, Nikita needs to take a place not lower than seventh in the individual Formula 2 standings in the 2020 season. Now the Russian shares with Robert Schwartzman the fifth or sixth places and is ahead of the eighth Zhou Guanyu by 20.5 points.
If Mazepin weakly holds the two final stages of Formula 2 and drops out of the first seven, then he risks not getting a super license, and the contract with Haas will be in question. However, the team itself is counting on cooperation with the Russian and is already exploring options with the involvement of new sponsors from Russia.
Mick Schumacher has been rumored to enter Formula 1 next season. A lot of people have also talked about the young Ferrari academy driver making the step up to the sport. Racing with Prema Powerteam, Mick is currently in the lead with 191 points in the F2 championship standings. Winning the title will secure his super-license required to race in Formula 1. ‘Schumi Junior’ originally had to make his free practice debut at Nurburgring. Along with fellow academy junior Callum Ilott, Schumacher got assigned to take the wheel of the Alfa Romeo C39.
However, owing to terrible weather on the day, the first session got canceled. Although that did not materialize, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto had stated they were eyeing Abu Dhabi as another chance.
Leave a Reply