Schumacher to share Ferrari F1 reserve role with Giovinazzi

The full-time Haas driver will be on standby for Ferrari at 11 races during his sophomore F1 season and would be called up should either Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz be unable to compete. 

At the remaining 12 rounds, the role will be filled by Giovinazzi, whose clashing commitments in Formula E will make him unavailable for several F1 races in 2022. 

“It will be his second season next year, he is a Ferrari driver, coming from the academy,” Binotto explained. 

“I’m very happy that he can be part of the team as a reserve driver whenever that will be necessary - hopefully not.”

If Schumacher was called up to Ferrari, he would be replaced at Haas by reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, who raced for he American squad at two rounds last year when Romain Grosjean was recovering from injuries sustained in his fireball crash in Bahrain. 

Binotto confirmed Schumacher will have access to Ferrari’s simulator and will continue to be supported by the Maranello outfit throughout 2022.

“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,” he said. 

“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.”

The 22-year-old impressed in his rookie F1 season despite finding himself in uncompetitive, underdeveloped machinery at Haas.

“The reason we’ve got a Ferrari Driver Academy is to identify who can be the Ferrari driver for the future,” Binotto added. 

“Being part of it, if you are doing well, no doubt you may have opportunities. He’s already had one season in F1, which is important. 

“I think Mick through the season did well. He 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. The fact that he was closer proved he had a good improvement on the speed itself.”

Binotto stressed it will be important for Ferrari to have a driver on its reserve books who has knowledge of the next-generation F1 cars that will be introduced in 2022. 

And he revealed that Giovinazzi, who will also be available to Ferrari customer teams Alfa Romeo and Haas, will have a “full programme of simulator to bring him up to speed in terms of 2022 driving style”. 

“Those cars will be really a lot different to the current one in terms of driving style, and it will be important to have one driver that knows those cars as a reserve driver,” Binotto said.

“I can still count on Antonio because he’s a good driver, he has proved to be a good driver.”