One of the more interesting summer breaks known to Formula One in recent years, the teams are back on the track for the second race of calendars triple header around Europe. While teams started to announce new drivers for next year and one driver's contract went to the Contract Recognition Board, Haas’s Mick Schumacher has seemingly gone from practically being guaranteed a driver with Haas next year, to almost guaranteed to losing his seat in a tragic twist of fate. With Schumacher rumored to be in contact with both AlphaTauri and William, it left a lingering question as to who will be racing alongside Kevin Magnusson next season?
It’s important to review just what Schumacher has been through in his first two years of his Formula One career, as it has not gone to plan for either Schumacher or Haas. He had a rookie season in a Haas that wasn’t at a competitive level and a team-mate in Nikita Mazepin who was demanding resources like no tomorrow. He proved that he was not up to scratch at the Formula One level and his performances showed that he was mainly in Hass’s other car, largely due to the fact his father owned the team's main sponsor. The dynamic of Haas in 2021 left myself and potentially others, feeling that Schumacher entered 2022’s new car regulation era as a rookie, rather than a second year driver.
This view in my opinion has only improved over the first half of the season, with two tremendous crashes in Jeddah and Monaco that both cost over a reported million dollars to repair and cut a decent chunk out of Haas’s already tight budget for 2022. His lack of points to begin the season was also a cause for concern, considering Haas has had a competitive midfield car which received its only major upgrade in Hungary. It took him until round 10 at Silverstone to record his first ever Formula One points, which took him 29 races to achieve. While he then followed that up with a second points finish, Haas are keen to build on the momentum of returning to the midfield with a car that is good around high down-force circuit’s and the team doesn’t seem to value Schumacher in that aspect. Schumacher on the other hand will end his relationship with the Ferrari Driver Academy at the end of this season, giving him options to move to any team he likes.
This leads us to Antionio Giovinazzi! As the current Ferrari reserve driver has officially been announced by Haas as driving for both Mick and Kevin FP1 spots for Italy and the United States. The 28-year-old, who had been racing for Dragon/Penske Autosports in Formula E this season, having previously notched 63 races for Sauber and Alfa Romeo, totaling 21 career points in that period. While his numbers aren’t the most impressive during his time in Formula One, his time did have a few bright spots that drew interest. He put himself in a position to lead the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix for four laps due to pit stops, a race he managed to score points in for a 10th place finish and then followed this with his highest overall finish of 5th at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. While 2020 finished in disappointment for an Alfa Romeo that struggled the entire year, it was still a surprise to most when the team announced Giovanazzi would be replaced by Zhou Guan Yi in 2021. His Ferrari test driver contract allows him to be the reserve driver for Alfa Romeo and Haas, and while it remains to be seen as to whether Giovanazzi will be an upgrade from Schumacher, there is the potential for Giovanazzi to come in and be competitive in 2023.
The most significant free agent could come in the form of Australian Daniel Ricciardo. Having already negotiated his release at McLaren’s request, Ricciardo is currently without a seat in F1 in 2023. The eight-time Grand Prix winner had a difficult time at McLaren, where he struggled with the car frequently throughout his time with the team. Though he’s been rumored to have had interest from Alpine and AlphaTauri, the only firm interested has seemed to come from Haas and Williams. Haas has been pushing toward a return to the midfield and has performed well on high down-force tracks this season. Ricciardo has confirmed he will make a decision for 2023 after Monza but pairing him with another experienced driver in Kevin Magnusson and being allowed to give car input could be the move that Ricciardo needs to find the form that made the Honey Badger so well loved by F1 fans.
While there is the option of potentially looking at 22-year-old Brazilian Felipe Drugovich who is currently leading the F2 standings or his closest rival currently in 19-year-old Frenchman Thèo Pourchaire for the 2023 season. It would make more sense for Haas to take either one of them as their reserve driver for next year and allow them to learn behind two established drivers. There are still plenty of questions to be answered regarding the last Haas seat for 2023, but this could be cleared up a bit further after the Italian Grand rix in Monza next weekend.
(For more F1 content, followme on Twitter @haloofthoughts)
(Picture Credit: Racefans.Net)
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