formula 1
Mick Schumacher becomes a substitute driver at Ferrari: but is he good enough to become a regular driver?
Mick Schumacher, member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, is being systematically developed as a driver for the Italians
© Elmar Kremser / Sven Simon / Picture Alliance
Mick Schumacher becomes a Ferrari substitute driver after his first year in Formula 1. It is a further step in career planning that will eventually end as a regular Scuderia pilot. But is it really good enough for the big goal?
Usually, outside of Formula 1, nobody is interested in who will be the substitute driver for which racing team for the next season. Substitute drivers have a similar status to garage mechanics. You belong to the army of the nameless who work in this sport. It’s something different if your name is Schumacher and the message comes on the ticker that Ferrari is signing Mick Schumacher as a substitute driver for the next season.
The story of Michael Schumacher, Mick’s father, and Ferrari is one of the greatest the sport has ever written. The connection is almost sacred, the five world championships from 2000 to 2004 stand out in the history of the racing team, along with many other world championship titles. This is how a normally insignificant message becomes a small event.
Mick Schumacher received a reward after his debut season in Formula 1 and will next year be a substitute driver for the Maranello team alongside Antonio Giovinazzi. That means that he has to be available for eleven races in the event that one of the regular drivers Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz retires. Mick Schumacher will continue to do his main job at the Haas racing team.
Ferrari team boss: Mick Schumacher is getting even better
“Mick is a Ferrari driver, he belongs to the Ferrari Driver Academy, he did well with Haas, the whole of the 2021 season,” said Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto to the TV broadcaster RTL. “The ultimate goal of the Ferrari Driver Academy is to find the next driver for Ferrari.” It is therefore important for the traditional Italian racing team to “always support and help him”. Schumacher was “very happy” with his new role, Binotto said: “We believe that he will be even better in the future.”
That is exactly the question of the prize: How good is the son of the seven-time world champion really? Or does Mick benefit more from his name than his talent suggests?
The problem is: Nobody can really judge how good Schumacher junior really is. The Haas car that was available to him last season was the slowest. Even the gap to Alfa Romeo or Williams, the two weakest teams of the season next to Haas, was too big for Schumacher to attack.
The only yardstick by which Schumacher could measure himself was his team-mate Nikita Masepin. A Russian driver who drives in Formula 1 because of his father’s dowry, which is worth millions. The result is clear: In the races the balance is 15 to 5 for Schumacher (including through no fault of his own due to accidents) and in qualifying things are even clearer. Schumacher was 19 times faster, Masepin only 2 times. However, the young Russian is hardly a benchmark. He spun on the track in his car so often that the team gave him the nickname Mase-Spin (from spin). How the young Schumacher is doing in a faster car with a stronger competitor cannot be read from it. In addition, Schumacher also underwent turning and takeoffs.
Mick Schumacher is capable of learning
If you look back on his achievements in the junior series, at least one conclusion can be drawn: Schumacher needed a year each time to learn. In his second year he won the title in both Formula 3 and Formula 2. The ability to learn is one of his strengths. That is exactly what Binotto attests to him: Mick has become faster over the year at Haas, the gap to the other teams is getting smaller and smaller.
What also sets Schumacher apart is ambition and perseverance. He always emphasized how much his Formula 1 career meant to him. On the one hand, he consistently pursues the goal, but appears realistic. When asked if he will ever drive for Ferrari, he once said: “My father’s story connects me very much with it. I don’t know whether I will end up there. That is a question that is still far in the making at the moment Future lies. ” Currently it is at least a little closer.
He probably knows himself that he doesn’t have a high-flyer talent like Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen, who won his first Grand Prix at the age of 17. But that doesn’t mean anything. Talents develop. At which point a development will end, nobody can predict. As much as Ferrari relies on the Schumacher name, they wouldn’t put Michael Schumacher’s son in the cockpit if they didn’t believe in his athletic talent. You have to trust the Scuderia with so much sense of reality regardless of the magic that the connection exudes.
Sources: DPA, “motor-sport-total”