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ESPN staff
Ferrari has confirmed Mick Schumacher will test for the team on April 2, at one of the two days of testing scheduled to take place after this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prick.
Schumacher, 20, is the son of Ferrari legend Michael, who won five of his seven world championships with the team. He is a member of Ferrari’s driver academy and this year races in Formula 2, the official feeder series for F1.
The young German will drive the Ferrari SF90 on the Tuesday before getting a second full day behind the wheel of a car when he switches to the Alfa Romeo for Wednesday’s running. The test takes place at the Sakhir International circuit which hosts the Bahrain race, the second round of the 2019 season.
Sebastian Vettel will take over from Schumacher on the Wednesday for Ferrari. The Italian team has also confirmed another of its academy driver, Callum Ilot, will test for Alfa Romeo at the post-Spanish Grand Prix tests in May.
“We are firm believers in the value of the Ferrari Driver Academy, as a high level training programme for talented youngsters and the decision to give Charles Leclerc a race seat with our team is proof of that,” Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said. “We are therefore very pleased to be able to give Mick and Callum the opportunity to experience driving a Formula One car.
“Mick, who joined the FDA in January, and Callum, who has been with us since 2017, are definitely drivers on their way up and I believe that driving the SF90 in an official setting such as the tests in Bahrain and Barcelona can be very useful at this stage in their career.”
Schumacher. who won the European Formula 3 championship last year, said his primary focus right now is on kicking his rookie F2 season with a strong showing in Bahrain this weekend. He will then turn his attention to the Ferrari test.
“I am obviously more than excited and would like to thank Ferrari for giving me this opportunity. I am really looking forward to what I’m sure will be a great experience. But for the moment, I am consciously putting all thoughts of the test to one side, because I am also very much looking forward to competing in my first F2 race and would like to focus a hundred percent on the weekend to come.”
F1’s rules state a rookie must drive in two of the four post-race test days across the year. Schumacher obviously fills one of those obligations but the fact Ferrari is giving him the first test day of the year, when its race drivers could have conducted both days in Bahrain, is a significant endorsement in his potential.