In the round-up: Mick Schumacher says he’s ready to step into a seat at Ferrari should be needed to replace either of their regular drivers at short notice
In brief
Schumacher would be ‘happy to show Ferrari what I got’ if needed
Schumacher says he feels he would be ready to step into a seat at Ferrari should be needed to replace Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz Jnr.The Haas race driver currently shares Ferrari reserve driver duties with Antonio Giovinazzi, as part of his role under the Ferrari driver academy. Asked by RaceFans if he felt he would be ready to step into a potential race winning Ferrari if Leclerc or Sainz were suddenly sidelined, Schumacher replied: “Yeah, I do so.”
“Our cars are not the same but are similar,” he continued. “I’ve grown up with Ferrari basically since 2019. I feel like I understand the whole procedure, so I’d be more than happy to step in and show them what I got.”
VeeKay signs multi-year extension with Ed Carpenter Racing
IndyCar driver Rinus VeeKay will remain with Ed Carpenter Racing for the 2023 IndyCar season and beyond after signing a multi-year extension with the team.
The 21-year-old Dutch driver has spent his entire IndyCar career for Ed Carpenter since joining the series in 2020. He has claimed a single race victory at least year’s Indianapolis Grand Prix and taken four podium places during a span of 42 races in IndyCar.
“Ed Carpenter gave me the opportunity to drive for the team when I came out of Indy Lights and has let me showcase my talents in an Indy car ever since,” said VeeKay. “The continuity at Ed Carpenter Racing is great, there have barely been any changes in my time here and it’s very nice to have the same group of people around me all the time.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
IndyCar's silly season gets a Rosenqvist twist (Racer)
"Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist is not under contract with McLaren Racing beyond 2022. This comes in the wake of a June 23 press release distributed by the McLaren team with a headline of ‘Felix Rosenqvist to remain with McLaren Racing from 2023’ where quotes from Rosenqvist and McLaren CEO Zak Brown present the 30-year-old veteran as being off the market and destined for a return to the AMSP IndyCar team or McLaren’s upcoming FIA Formula E effort."
Mercedes F1 Team publishes second annual Sustainability Report (Mercedes)
"A review of all new employees shows that 38% of our new team members in 2021 joined from under-represented groups, with this year's figure standing at 32% to the end of June 2022. Female employees have risen from 12% to 15% of our workforce and employees from minority ethnic backgrounds from 3% to 7%. Whilst these numbers are not yet where we aspire to be, we are pleased to see that our positive actions through Accelerate 25 are having a measurable impact."
Billionaire Lo weighs adding to Formula One investments after Williams (Reuters)
"A lot of people, me included, are still looking to other teams, other opportunities, because...there are consistently good teams but they are not able to come up with the right car. In Asia right now, there is a lot of liquidity sitting around, it's mind-blowing. I wouldn't be surprised if the next news you hear...is maybe some consortium in Asia investing into some other teams."
Why Oscar Piastri's ability to adapt puts him alongside the very best (Motor Sport)
"He never gets into a panic, he never gets worried, he always listens to what people are telling him to do, and he tries to adapt as best as possible. He is very calm, very technically dedicated and an amazing guy to work with."
10 F1 drivers you completely forgot about - and what they are up to now (Daily Star)
"Alguersuari dipped his toe into Formula E but after an unsuccessful 2015 campaign he announced his retirement from the sport at the age of just 25, poignantly declaring he had 'fallen out of love with his girlfriend'. He went on focus on a career in music as a DJ."
Wins, overtakes, and two titles in a row – The best moments from Oscar Piastri's career so far (F1)
"Racing for Prema, Piastri certainly turned heads last year as he replaced the outgoing Mick Schumacher. Six wins and five poles saw him take the title in his first year in the series, by a comfortable margin from team mate Robert Shwartzman."
Hungary For More (McLaren via YouTube)
"Following the misfortune of the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, which saw Lando retire and Daniel sent to the back of the grid after multiple collisions on the opening lap of the race, redemption was on the cards in the final race before this season's summer break."
Announcing Caterham Academy (rFactor2 via YouTube)
"Here we go again with another content announcement for rFactor 2, and this time, we are delighted to be able to bring a very important national level racing car to the simulation, free to all users, as part of our upcoming 2022 Q3 content drop this August - the wonderful Caterham Academy!"
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
👏🏻👏🏻💪! Vamos Andrés 👏🏻 https://t.co/Usx363jrJt
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) August 4, 2022
gotta keep entertained somehow during the summer break 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/RilPsCmQUu
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) August 4, 2022
Old or new?
The boys have changed their headwear in the opening months of the season! #HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/9xxu688eki
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) August 4, 2022
Real men wear pink.
Here’s why this Lewis Hamilton x Valentino move makes sense:
Hamilton fans are 2x more likely to be interested in Fashion and 7.6x more likely to engage with Valentino on social media.
Talk about tapping into the zeitgeist! pic.twitter.com/tEaS6u7PPo
— Vincenzo Landino (@vincenzolandino) August 4, 2022
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
With Mick Schumacher speaking to select media including RaceFans about how his second season in Formula 1 has gone so far, reader Constantijn Blondel is impressed by the young driver’s temperament…
Whenever I get a little bit of an impression of Mick when he’s not inside his helmet driving an F1 car, I feel impressed by how on the one hand he is in all sorts of things very clearly ‘a Schumacher’ (obviously…), he also seems so much his own person, without necessarily trying to show to the world that he’s not his father – I find that very mature, and I hope he’ll do really well in F1, as his career develops.
Constantijn Blondel
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Katy, Paul Gawne and Pamela McLaren!
On this day in motorsport

Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
5th August 2022, 0:58
What sort of an organization are they running at McLaren these days?
When you’re just outright lying about contracting drivers, what else are you lying about?
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
5th August 2022, 7:48
@proesterchen If they weren’t a British team and a darling of the media they would have been criticized a lot worse for everything that’s going on.
PMP
6th August 2022, 7:31
It’s in McLaren’s blood. Under Ron Dennis they did lots of shady stuff.
kpcart
5th August 2022, 1:23
Ferrari should hire Magnussen as their reserve driver as Schumacher hasn’t lived up to the hype.
AlanD
6th August 2022, 22:26
KP, Magnussen has certainly been an eye-opener this year. I’m uncomfortable about all these inter-team links though. For example, if Schumacher is angling for that reserve driver role at Ferrari, he’ll know he’s not going to be popular if he defends hard against LeClerc for 10 laps in the next race while allowing the cars ahead of them to get away.
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
5th August 2022, 3:21
Mick should try to beat his current teammate regularly to start with. Until then his chances of racing in a Ferrari F1 car are 0.0000
Steve K
5th August 2022, 4:20
I am sure he brought it up to the media and is actively campaigning for the drive as opposed to having a media member asking him the direct question. I am sure the young Schumacher knows what he has to do professionally without you telling him.
Mayrton
5th August 2022, 16:41
It is interesting to see how he is treated everywhere vs other new young drivers. He gets a lot of leeway imho relatively to the others. Same goes for Charles. Others are / were more subject to close scrutiny and harsh conclusions.
Shimks (@shimks)
6th August 2022, 14:56
I agree, @ryanoceros. I naturally support him for all the reasons surrounding his father as a dad and racer, but he needs to show regular magic compared to his teammate first. He’s not there yet but I hope he makes it.
Ancient1 (@ancient1)
5th August 2022, 4:39
All this hype over PIA/RIC @ McLaren for ’23.
I trust Andreas will have done his homework. I mean if PIA gets the gig, but can NOT drive it any quicker than RIC – nightmare revisited!!!.
With manager Mark W. ties in RBR & Porsche [who WILL want a #1 driver if VER goes] = logic.
kpcart
5th August 2022, 11:18
Mark W isn’t contracted by RedBull or Porsche. And Porsche won’t be in F1 until 2026, that is a long time away, if they do actually end up coming
Adam (@rocketpanda)
5th August 2022, 12:22
What on earth are McLaren doing? They announced Rosenqvist was staying in some fashion and now he has nothing?
Jehannes (@jehannes)
5th August 2022, 13:46
Veekay going sideways :/
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
6th August 2022, 5:09
After the disastrous launch of f1 22, the site is still endorsing such a broken game? Bad ads.