26/03/2019
NEWS STORY
While Alfa Romeo has confirmed Mick Schumacher for next week's Bahrain test, the youngster will actually make his F1 debut a day earlier... with Ferrari.
Schumacher will drive the SF90 for the first time on the first day of the test, Tuesday 2, following this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.
The German, who is racing in F2 this year with the Prema team, will drive on both days of the test, as after first driving the Ferrari he will jump into the cockpit of the Alfa Romeo C38 on Wednesday.
On the second day of testing at Sakhir, Sebastian Vettel will continue with the team's programme - with the race having taken place a couple of days earlier, this will provide the engineers with a good reference point for their data.
It won't be long until another FDA driver is seen at the wheel of an F1 car, as Callum Ilott, currently racing in F2 with the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz Racing, will be driving the Alfa Romeo at the Barcelona test, on 14 and 15 May.
"We are firm believers in the value of the Ferrari Driver Academy, as a high level training programme for talented youngsters," said Mattia Binotto, "and the decision to give Charles Leclerc a race seat with our team is proof of that.
"We are therefore very pleased to be able to give Mick and Callum the opportunity to experience driving a Formula 1 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."
"I am obviously more than excited and would like to thank Ferrari for giving me this opportunity," said Schumacher. "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."