Haas driver and Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher has told the Scuderia that he is ready to jump straight into their F1-75, should one of either Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz be left unable to race this season. His comments come with Sebastian Vettel awaiting results of a COVID-19 test that should determine whether or not he will be able to compete in this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Aston Martin driver, formerly of Red Bull and Ferrari, missed the season-opening Bahrain round after testing positive for the virus and was replaced by team reserve Nico Hulkenberg. McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo has also spent time self-isolating this year, missing the entire pre-season test in Sakhir after testing positive himself. The problem could strike any team at any moment, and Schumacher says he would be ready to swap Haas for Ferrari if he were needed by the Italian team, with which he is registered as their official reserve driver for 2022.
Schumacher: I'd be ready for Ferrari anytime
A race for Ferrari would complete a journey following in his father's footsteps to one of the sport's most famous teams, and offer Schumacher a chance to prove that he has what it takes to one day hold a full-time race role with them. "I'd be ready anytime. I'm a racing driver, just like everybody else," said Schumacher, speaking to media including RacingsNews365.com . "I think that our car is quite similar. We have the same power unit and we have some parts which are the same. "I feel that this car is quite aligned with what is happening over there."
Schumacher already knows Ferrari - and their cars - well
During the 2020 season, then-Mercedes junior driver George Russell made the switch from Williams to Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton for the Sakhir Grand Prix. After a fine launch, Russell led the race out of the first corner and would later slice through the field on an aggressive strategy to overtake teammate Valtteri Bottas. But then a tyre mix-up, followed by a puncture, robbed him of what looked to set to be a certain maiden win in the desert. For Schumacher, a temporary rise to the senior team would offer him the first chance to race in the red of Ferrari – but it would be far from his first experience behind the wheel of one of their cars. "I know the car already, since 2019. It's not too far away from how we run our car," he added.
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