Motorsport: Mick Schumacher a step closer to following father at Ferrari in Formula 1

Mick Schumacher will be a reserve driver for Ferrari during next year's Formula 1. Photo / Getty

Mick Schumacher has taken another step towards following his legendary father's Formula 1 career at Ferrari.

Schumacher, a Ferrari academy member, drove for Haas in his 2021 rookie year.

But Ferrari has just announced the younger Schumacher will be their Formula 1 reserve driver for 11 of next year's 23 races, sharing duties with Antonio Giovinazzi.

The legendary Michael Schumacher - now stricken by a brain injury after a skiing accident - won five of his seven world titles with Ferrari.

Mick Schumacher, the 2020 F2 champion, failed to gain a point in his first F1 season with Haas, a team who have a controversial stepping-stone relationship with Ferrari.

But the Italian giants are talking him up, with Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto saying: "I think Mick through the season did well. He improved himself, not only in terms of consistency, but also in terms of speed.

"If I look at the last races, he was a lot closer to the cars ahead, while Haas didn't really develop the car at all.

"So the fact that he was closer is he proved that he had a good improvement on the speed itself."

Schumacher will keep racing for Haas, but switch if Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz are unavailable.

The elevation is not the only news concerning Schumacher, who has also been revealed as the most crash-prone driver in F1 this year.

According to a report in The Times, he notched up just over $7 million in repairs, pipping Leclerc and new champion Max Verstappen.

Red Bull's Verstappen hit the $6.5m mark, more than three times the repair bill racked up by his great rival and deposed champion Lewis Hamilton.