Giovinazzi to take up a reserve role for Alfa Romeo and Haas as well.
Ferrari have announced Mick Schumacher and Antonio Giovinazzi as their reserve drivers for the upcoming 2022 season. Schumacher will be doubling up on his responsibilities along with being the race driver for Haas; the young German will also share the reserve role.
For Giovinazzi, not only is the Italian going to be available as a reserve driver for Ferrari but also for Haas and Alfa Romeo, should his services be required. The reserve role gives Giovinazzi an opportunity to stay within the sport after failing to find a seat for the upcoming season. After being replaced by Guanyu Zhou, Giovinazzi will be competing in Formula E next year.
Ferrari team principal, Mattia Binotto, spoke about Schumacher’s role with their team and also about the youngster’s rookie season performances, stating:
“He 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.
“Being part of it, if you are doing well, no doubt you may have opportunities. He’s had already one season in F1, which is important. 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 cars ahead even though Haas did not really develop the car at all. So the fact he was closer showed he had good improvement on the speed itself. He will be driving 2022 cars next year, they will be a lot different to the current one in terms of driving style. It will be important to have one driver who knows those cars being reserve.”
Binotto also spoke about keeping Giovinazzi in the role, and why it will help the Italian in his bid for a seat in 2023 commenting:
“I can count still on Antonio because he’s a good driver, he has proved to be a good driver. Antonio will have a full programme of simulator, in terms of bringing him up to speed in terms of 2022 driving style.
“With Antonio, no doubt there can be some more opportunities for him to find a seat [in 2023]. There are 11 seats I think which will be free in 2023. I’m not saying all of them will be free, but if I look at contracts of drivers, 11 are finishing by the end of 2022, including Carlos – so that’s the situation.
“This is why I think it’s important for him to still be part of our F1 programme as reserve, still doing activities in the simulator and keeping him up to speed with 2022 cars.”
Ferrari have announced that Schumacher will stand in as a reserve driver for 11 races while Giovinazzi would fill in for the remaining 12. Should Ferrari call upon the services of Schumacher, Haas would run their reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi along with Nikita Mazepin for the races.
After a disappointing 2020 season, where the team finished sixth, the Scuderia bounced back strongly in 2021, finishing third in the Constructors’ Championship with multiple podiums and two poles. The Maranello-based outfit will hope that they continue their strong form into the new regulations’ era starting from 2022, which will see them back at the top of the sport.
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