Mick Schumacher will play his second full season in Formula 1 with Haas in 2022 . In addition, the 2020 Formula 2 champion will combine that role with his role as a Ferrari reserve in 11 of the 23 races, so in the event that the starting drivers, Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz, were not available, he would occupy one of their seats.
“I am very happy that he can be part of the team as a reserve driver when necessary, although I hope that is not the case,” said Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto . “Next year will be his second season, he is a Ferrari, it comes from the Ferrari academy.”
For the remaining 12 races, Antonio Giovinazzi will remain Ferrari’s reserve driver, having had a similar deal to Schumacher’s until 2021.
The Italian lost his seat at Alfa Romeo at the end of this season and next year he will compete in Formula E with the Dragon team.
Binotto confirmed that Giovinazzi will also be available to Ferrari’s customer teams Alfa Romeo and Haas next year if either need a reserve driver.
Schumacher failed to score any points in his debut F1 season with Haas, but Binotto was impressed by his pace of development and progression throughout the year.
“The reason we have the Ferrari Driver Academy is to identify who can be a Ferrari driver in the future, and part of that is if you’re doing well, there’s no doubt you can have opportunities,” Binotto said.
“I think Mick has done well throughout the season. He has improved, not only in terms of consistency, but also speed.
“If you look at the last few races, he was much closer to the cars in front, whereas Haas didn’t develop the car at all. So the fact that he was closer showed he made a good improvement in speed.
Binotto believes it was also important that at least one of Ferrari’s reserve drivers for next year had experience with the new styling of the cars planned for 2022.
“Those cars will be really very different from the current ones in terms of driving style and I think it will be important to have a driver who knows them as a backup,” Binotto said.
“I can continue to count on Antonio because he is a good driver and he has shown it. Antonio will have a full simulator program to get up to speed in terms of driving style for 2022.”
