Schumacher joins Ilott in Ferrari test at Fiorano

Jon Wilde
Mick Schumacher Ferrari

Mick Schumacher, Ferrari, Fiorano test

Ferrari have given Mick Schumacher some more valuable F1 driving time by testing one of their old cars at Fiorano.

Even though he is racing this year for one of the Scuderia’s customer teams, Haas, the 22-year-old German remains a Ferrari Academy driver.

Switching to the SF71H, the 2018 Ferrari F1 car, was clearly considered to be a benefit for the reigning Formula 2 champion and he completed over 200km on Thursday morning in a test at the Fiorano circuit.

In the afternoon, it was the turn of Callum Ilott, Ferrari’s test driver, and the Briton drove slightly less mileage at nearly 200km.

Ilott, who finished second to Schumacher in last year’s F2 standings, is combining his testing duties this year with racing in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

On his debut in that series at Monza, the same weekend as Schumacher was driving in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Ilott finished fourth for the Iron Lynx team along with his two co-drivers, Antonio Fuoco and Davide Rigon.

Schumacher, meanwhile, was not the only F1 racer at Fiorano this week for Carlos Sainz put in more than 300km in the SF71H on Wednesday.

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The duo experienced contrasting fortunes at Imola on Sunday, with Sainz entitled to be pleased with his performance as he worked his way up from P11 on the grid to finish fifth, just behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc.

However, Schumacher will have been less happy as he crashed into the barrier on a damp track while warming his tyres behind the Safety Car and said afterwards he had subsequently been “driven by anger” at his mistake.

The son of Michael Schumacher, the seven-time former World Champion, admitted he had been caught out by a lack of grip which he found alarming.

“It’s very hard for people to understand how it affects the grip,” said Schumacher about the drop in temperature. “It’s not like in a road car where you can drive in the wet or the dry.

“It’s like you are driving in hot conditions and then suddenly you are driving on ice. There’s no grip at all whatsoever, so it’s very tough.

“It’s something I have to learn, but the team is fully behind my back and giving me all the information I need to learn those things.

“But in the end it’s something you have to feel.”

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