Schumacher Ferrari advantage hopefully minimal - Mazepin

Nikita Mazepin is hopeful any advantage gained this year by Haas team-mate Mick Schumacher's involvement with the Ferrari Driver Academy will be "very little".

Haas will field an all-rookie driver line-up for the coming season, with both Mazepin and Schumacher graduating from feeder series F2 in which the latter won the title.

Schumacher has also been a part of the FDA since 2019 and even tested the 2018 Ferrari SF71H at Fiorano ahead of F1 pre-season testing.

Via the FDA, the German will also have access to the Ferrari simulator throughout the season.

Asked what advantages Schumacher has from his links with Ferrari, Mazepin said: “There is no point to guess because there isn’t a definitive answer.

"I hope very little but that is not something for me to say because it is not going to change my situation and I am here to maximise what I have available on the table.”

Mazepin is no stranger to F1 machinery himself after previously completing tests with both Mercedes and Force India.

After three days of pre-season running in Bahrain, with the time split equally between the two Haas drivers, the Russian insists he feels "prepared" for his rookie campaign.

"Obviously, if you offered me 10 more minutes on track I would always take it and that is the nature of the world of F1 that we live in currently," said Mazepin. "But I think I am in a good place to start my career in Formula 1.

“The team has been extremely helpful and incredibly good with managing a young driver like me so that is something that I didn’t expect coming into a team that used to only have experienced drivers.

"So I’m very happy about that and hugely confident that over the 365 days of a year we can really go further together as a group of people.”

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