The Ferrari Driver Academy has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years and some of its young stars are closer to reaching Formula 1. Due to the lack of free seats in the top flight, only Mick Schumacher had reached one of those wheels. by 2021, while the others had to stay in F2 because of such limited opportunities. Two of those talents are Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman, who made good positions in last year’s Championship, but their moment to make the leap will have to wait. Faced with this situation, Mattia Binotto affirms that the objective of this program is not to take its pilots to Formula 1 exclusively, but rather that some of them get to drive for Scuderia Ferrari. In these recent seasons, Charles Leclerc had been the best example, he won in F2, he spent one year at Alfa Romeo and the next he landed in the Maranello team. What is seen with the Monegasque is the mentality that Binotto defends in his words.
Binotto clarifies the purpose of the FDA
“Mick Schumacher will be one of the Haas drivers this year, which is a great opportunity for us to show the strength that we have. Mick is part of the FDA and this program is not about developing drivers to get to Formula 1, but that is there so that one day they will have a seat at Ferrari. When you go up from F2 to F1, the first year cannot be directly to the red car because it would be too much responsibility and without enough experience. Knowing that we have client teams to count on, our pilots will continue to develop, being an important element in Formula 1 “, has sentenced the Swiss manager in words collected on the F1 page.
https://www.f1aldia.com/noticias/mattia-binotto-fda-nuestros-pilotos-lleguen-a-ferrari-no-f1-39479/