Schumacher’s progress in rookie F1 season pleases Ferrari boss

Ferrari junior Schumacher graduated to F1 with Haas this year after winning the Formula 2 championship in 2020 and has enjoyed a solid start to his maiden campaign despite driving underdeveloped machinery.

Other than crashes in qualifying at Monaco, France and Hungary, the German has been a safe pair of hands for the American outfit and has comfortably outperformed rookie teammate Nikita Mazepin in the opening 11 races of the year.

And Schumacher’s attitude and performances have not gone unnoticed by Ferrari boss Binotto, who believes his protege is “doing well” given the circumstances.

“Mick in his very first year in F1 driving for Haas, I think we said at the start of the season that the objective for him was first no pressure, but to make sure that he is learning,” Binotto said.

“So 2021 has to be for him an important year in terms of learning, and I think if we look at that objective he is doing well. I think Mick since the start of the season is doing well, he is learning, he is progressing. Obviously a few mistakes, but that's part of the learning process.

“Overall in terms of balance so far, we can be happy. What’s important for him is to continue developing and progressing in the second half. But I'm confident he can do that.”

However, Binotto is less impressed with the performances of Ferrari’s other academy drivers in F2. Robert Shwartzman is currently the leading Ferrari junior and sits third in the drivers’ standings, 17 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, while Marcus Armstrong is down in 14th.

“If I look at the junior drivers for the Ferrari Driver Academy, I think there's no doubt that in terms of results it is not as good as last year,” he explained.

“Last year, especially in F2, we had great results, which is not the case for us [now]. So overall we cannot be as happy as we were.”