Mick Schumacher, Haas, Spa-Francorchamps, 2021

Mick Schumacher will be Ferrari’s reserve driver at 11 races in 2022

2022 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by and

Mick Schumacher will be Ferrari’s official reserve driver at half of next year’s races, alongside his driving duties for Haas.

The 22-year-old, who made his Formula 1 debut this year, will share the role with Antonio Giovinazzi. The former Alfa Romeo driver will be unable to attend several rounds on the 23-race 2022 F1 calendar due to his clashing commitments in Formula E.

“Antonio Giovinazzi will not drive a Formula 1 next year but he will remain our reserve driver for 2022,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto explained. “He will be our reserve driver for 12 races, that’s what will be compatible with his Formula E calendar on which he has decided to move and on which we are very happy because that will somehow keep him trained.”

Giovinazzi will also be available to Ferrari’s two power unit customers, Haas and Alfa Romeo. When he isn’t at the track, Schumacher will be on standby to substitute for either of Ferrari’s regular drivers if they cannot race.

“For the remaining races, 11, races on which he will be not there Mick Schumacher will be a reserve driver for Ferrari, which I think again is a great one because it will be his second season next year, he is a Ferrari driver coming from the driver academy. I’m very happy that he can be part of the team as a reserve driver whenever that will be necessary – hopefully not.”

If Ferrari was to call on Schumacher’s services during a grand prix weekend, Haas would likely rely on reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, who started two races for them last year as a substitute for Romain Grosjean.

Schumacher will continue to benefit from Ferrari’s input next year, said Binotto. “In 2021 he was followed by Ferrari engineers dedicated to the programme of Ferrari Driver Academy to support him in his development and that will continue next year.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“Our simulator will be available to him here at Maranello, but we’ve got an entire programme because being still part of an academy, it’s part of our objectives continuously to try to develop them as as drivers because again, the final objectives, one day, is they will prove to be capable to be a Ferrari driver.”

Mick Schumacher, Ferrari, Fiorano, 2021
Mick Schumacher has had several track tests for Ferrari already
Binotto was impressed by Schumacher’s performances in the uncompetitive Haas, which failed to score a point all season, which gave him confidence in the rookie’s abilities. “If you are doing well, no doubt that you may have opportunities,” he said.

“Now he’s got already one season in F1, which is important because I think that Mick through the season did well, improved himself, not only in terms of consistency but as well in terms of speed. If I look at the last races he was a lot closer to the cars ahead while Haas didn’t really develop the car at all so the fact that he was closer he proved that he had a good improvement on the speed itself.”

Another benefit to having Schumacher on hand is he will be able to draw on his experience of driving a car built to next year’s extensively overhauled technical regulations, said Binotto.

“He will be driving the 2022 cars next year. These cars will be really a lot different to the current one for driving style. And I think it will be as well important to have one driver which knows those cars being a reserve driver.”

Giovinazzi “will have a full programme of simulator to bring him up to speed in terms of 2022 driving style”, Binotto added.

View the current list of 2022 F1 drivers and teams

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2022 F1 season

Browse all 2022 F1 season articles

13 comments on “Mick Schumacher will be Ferrari’s reserve driver at 11 races in 2022”

  1. Coventry Climax
    21st December 2021, 23:45

    After such outstanding performances over the last season, that makes sense.
    If you didn’t get it, I’m being sarcastic here.

  2. Nepotism of the highest oda! I just can’t see how Jnr’s earned his “Driving Badge” in Hey Duggee parlance yet. Yes, I get he smashed the head-to-head against Mr Potato Head, but he’s not really been tested back there in P19 has he? I might have asked Giovanizzi if he fancied a year in Red, at least he would have had a moment in the sunshine in a few practice sessions in the new cars next year.

    1. (sign I’m in the.middle of a works doo, and not paying attention to details!!)

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      22nd December 2021, 15:55

      @jazz – The funny thing is I even read “badge” in Alexander Armstrong’s voice before I got onto the part where you mentioned Hey Duggee…..

      1. @petebaldwin ah, a fellow Dad and a man of culture to boot! Your inner monologue is obviously in tip top shape!

  3. I still give Mick the benefit of the doubt. There is just so much you can do with a Haas. Driving such a poor machinery has the same effect that driving a very dominant one: it is really difficult to gauge a driver’s performance. Most people just consider the results but I wouldn’t be too surprised if Mick could regularly beat Valtteri if they were teammates.

    1. Coventry Climax
      22nd December 2021, 15:50

      I still doubt Mick’s benefits.

  4. Being a regular driver & a reserve for different teams simultaneously is unusual.
    I’m surprised Shwartzman doesn’t get a reserve role despite not doing a 3rd F2 campaign. I slightly assumed he would.

    1. Mick is ofcourse a member of Ferrari Academie and is in Haas because of them so this is not strange at all. Like George was Mercedes reserve driver (Why their own reserve driver were passed)

    2. @jerejj
      I think teams now tend to give the reserve driver position to drivers who are already racing that season, ideally at another team in F1. Teams like Mercedes, RB and Ferrari are in a strong position and have talented young drivers at their customer teams, so they can put them in their car when needed.
      There is a reason why Mercedes put Russell in their car at Bahrain last year and not Vandoorne or Hülkenberg.
      Jumping into a car to replace another driver, even if you are familiar with it due to runs in the simulator, can be pretty tough. Last year it took Ocon almost a full season to match Ricciardo, after being a whole year out of competitive racing and even the great Fernando Alonso had troubles getting up to speed this year.

      I think it’s a smart decision by Ferrari to appoint Mick Schumacher as their part-time reserve driver. He’s reasonably fast, is familiar with the Ferrari PU and the Haas will also share some other features on their car with Ferrari (more than just PU, gearbox and rear suspension).
      Robert Shwartzman, on the other hand, hasn’t had the most convincing season in F2 (not bad, but not outstanding either) and won’t be racing in 2022. Btw, Shwartzman just confirmed that he will be Ferrari’s test driver for the upcoming season. I assume that means he will do runs in the simulator.

  5. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    22nd December 2021, 16:10

    I don’t mean any disrespect and would love to be proven wrong but Bruno Senna comes to mind.

  6. I don’t understand it when drivers taking part in the F1 championship (even for the worst car) are backup for another driver at an entirel different team dropping out. Who’s the backup backup? It just gets things more messy then it should It justs seems silly to me that one driver missing a race changes the line up for 2 teams.

    1. For the upper team it makes perfectly sense to rip their reserve driver from the lower team because they can then equip their car with a trained driver who is used to the current car generation.

      George Russell for example did a much better job as Mercedes substitute than Stoffel Vandoorne or Nyck de Vries could have done.

Comments are closed.