Mick Schumacher, who will race for Haas in the 2021 F1 season, is among the seven drivers taking part in the Ferrari 2018 car test this week.
Ferrari have announced they will be at Fiorano from Monday to Friday with the SF71H, giving a variety of drivers track time to prepare them for the new campaign.
They are due to include Charles Leclerc, who has been suffering from COVID-19 but the intention is that he will be able to travel from his home in Monaco after completing his self-isolation period.
Also, Carlos Sainz is set to try out a Ferrari for the first time since joining the team following his move from McLaren.
But the other intriguing aspect will be the appearance of Schumacher, who joins four other Ferrari Academy Drivers in taking part even though he will be donning Haas overalls come the start of pre-season testing in Bahrain on March 12.
The son of Michael Schumacher, the seven-time former World Champion, remains very much a member of the Ferrari programme despite his connection to Haas, with whom he is effectively ‘on loan’ for 2021.
Schumacher was also involved in a similar exercise at Fiorano with the 2018 Ferrari last autumn, in between the Russian and Eifel Grands Prix, when he joined counterparts Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman in being given experience of an F1 car.
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That duo will also be participating again, with the trio of 2020 Formula 2 rivals having diverged towards different roles since then.
While Schumacher, who won the series title, is heading for Haas in F1, his former Prema team-mate Shwartzman will be among the favourites to succeed him as champion in the second-tier category.
Ilott, meanwhile, who finished second to Schumacher in the standings, is not expected to be racing in 2021 and will instead be Ferrari’s test driver.
The other two drivers taking part in the test, who are somewhat further away from F1 as things stand, are Giuliano Alesi, son of ex-Ferrari driver Jean, and Marcus Armstrong of New Zealand.
In terms of the test schedule, Ferrari said Sainz “will be at the wheel of a Ferrari for the very first time on Wednesday 27th and the morning of Thursday 28th”.
Shwartzman, Alesi and Armstrong will get things under way on Monday, Leclerc will take over on Tuesday and after Sainz’s day-and-a-half stint, Schumacher and Ilott round things off on Thursday afternoon and Friday.
