Formula 1: What is the real goal for Mick Schumacher?

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto confirmed that the long-term goal for Mick Schumacher in Formula 1 is to have him competing for Ferrari like his father did.

2018 Formula 3 European champion and reigning Formula 2 champion Mick Schumacher is set to make the jump to Formula 1 in 2021 competing for Haas, which released both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen after the 2020 season.

Schumacher, who made his Formula 2 debut in 2019 and competed for Prema Racing in both 2019 and 2020, signed with the Ferrari Driver Academy just a few months before his rookie season in Formula 2.

That immediately turned the narrative to whether or not he could follow in his father Michael’s footsteps and compete for Ferrari at the sport’s top level one day.

With him now set compete in Formula 1 throughout the upcoming season, that narrative is still fully intact.

In fact, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto is fully embracing it.

While not all drivers who get the opportunity to become members of the Ferrari Driver Academy end up competing for the Scuderia, the Ferrari Driver Academy exists for one reason.

It has nothing to do with simply getting drivers to Formula 1. It has everything to do with getting drivers to Ferrari.

Here is what team principal Mattia Binotto had to say about the matter, according to Motorsport.

"“The FDA [Ferrari Driver Academy) program is not there to develop drivers for F1, it is there to develop drivers that one day may drive a Ferrari seat, a red car. I think that when you move from F2 and you jump into the F1, the very first year cannot be directly in a red car, because that will be too much responsibility and not enough experience.“I’m really expecting him to prove how fast he is in an F1 context, both in qualifying and race. But even more than that, to prove that he is very strong in the race pace, and consistent in terms of bringing the car home in a good position in the race. Carlos [Sainz Jr.] is very good in that. Normally he is even finishing in a better position compared to the qualifying, so that is what you may expect from a driver, and what I’m expecting from Mick in the next two years.”"

Mick’s father competed for Ferrari from 1996 to 2006 and won five consecutive world championships from 2000 through 2004. He won 72 races along the way. No other driver, save for fellow seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, has won more than 53 races, period, much less with a single team.