"His own man" - Damon Hill on the difference between Mick and Michael Schumacher

1996 F1 champion and pundit Damon Hill commented on why he thought Mick Schumacher felt more 'open' than his father and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. He went on to say that he and Michael were never good friends, to begin with, and were "worlds apart" during their battles together.

“Mick has grown up a lot in the States, I think. So, he is perhaps a little more worldly than his dad was when he was starting out... I got very close to him on the track – but Michael was quite difficult to know.”

Damon Hill, son of Graham Hill, has been among several father-son presences in Formula 1 since its inception. Michael Schumacher and Mick Schumacher were the latest additions this year with Mick driving for Haas from the 2021 season.

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Following in Michael Schumacher's footsteps, Mick announced as Reserve driver for Ferrari in 2022

Scuderia Ferrari F1 team principal Matia Binotto announced that Mick Schumacher would be available as the reserve driver for the 2022 season for 11 races — in the event of either Carlos Sainz or Charles Leclerc being unavailable. This is in addition to Mick's existing contract with the Haas F1 team as the main driver alongside Nikita Mazepin.

Binotto continued that Mick showed consistent improvement throughout the season and that the Ferrari support would continue for the German:

“There are I think 11 seats which will be free in 2023... 11 have contracts finishing at the end of 2022. So it is important for him as a driver to still be part of our F1 program.”

F1 and Ferrari fans worldwide are looking forward to Schumacher's name returning to the red Ferrari car after the retirement of Michael Schumacher in 2006.

Antonio Giovinazzi will feature as the reserve driver for the rest of the record-breaking 23 race-long 2022 season. For the remainder of the time, he will be involved in the Formula E season calendar, as the Italian drives for the Penske Racing team.

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