(Motorsport) Mick Schumacher is set to combine his race seat at Haas with a role as Ferrari’s reserve driver for the 2022 season. The 22 year old who is the son of seven time World Champion Michael Schumacher will serve as Ferrari’s reserve driver alongside former Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi. The Italian will fulfill his role as reserve driver for 12 races in the 2022 season before participating in the Formula E while Mick Schumacher will fill in for the other 11 races and will represent the Ferrari if either Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz are unable to race.

If Schumacher is needed by the Ferrari team, Haas will replace his seat with Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi temporarily until the German is ready to resume his duties. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of a reserve driver is more important than ever before and it will be interesting to see Mick Schumacher in the Ferrari red colours just like his father before him. Giovinazzi, who was racing for Alfa Romeo for three seasons has lost his seat in Formula 1 this year as Guanyu Zhou, China’s first Formula 1 racer and former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas will represent the Italian team.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said “He (Mick Schumacher) is a Ferrari driver. We should not forget that. He has been part of the academy and the reason we have an academy is to identify who can be the next Ferrari driver for the future. If I look at the last races he was a lot closer to the cars ahead even though Haas did not really develop the car at all. So the fact he was closer showed he had a good improvement on the speed itself." 

Speaking at Ferrari’s pre-Christmas news conference, Binotto also said that he was hoping to negotiate an extended contract with Carlos Sainz before the start of the 2022 season. Having joined Ferrari on a two year deal, Sainz has had an impressive debut season where the Spaniard finished above Charles Leclerc by five and a half points. "With Carlos, we will discuss through the winter time the extension of his contact," Binotto said. "He worked very well during the season. I'm very happy with the way he integrated and has been performing on track."

Despite Ferrari finishing third in the Constructors Standings in the 2021 season, it was evident that the most successful team in Formula 1 history were very far apart from both Mercedes and Red Bull. While the Italian team can be relatively happy with their standings considering the 2021 car was not developed because the focus was on the development of the 2022 Ferrari, Binotto has said he "cannot be confident" of challenging for the championship next year either. 

"The gap to the lead is still significant showing that those teams are very strong," Binotto said. "So the fact we have put a lot of effort on 2022 and making that the priority was a necessity, because we knew if we had not done that it would have been difficult to have a good car, a competitive car in 2022. The new regs are a clear opportunity. The hope is to be competitive, which means being in a position to win races. Does it mean we can fight for a championship? I think if I look at today, the gap is too big. But for Ferrari, what is important is to be capable of fighting at least in some races for the pole position and the win."

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