Clear set to become driver coach for Ferrari juniors
Ferrari looks set to expand Jock Clear’s role as a Formula 1 driver coach to include its other juniors, including Mick Schumacher.
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Clear, who famously engineered Jacques Villeneuve to the 1997 world title for Williams, has played a senior trackside engineering role at Ferrari since he joined the team in 2015.
From the start of 2019, Clear has been a driver coach for Charles Leclerc, acting as a useful interface between the Monegasque and the engineers as they adapted to working with each other.
Following recent discussions, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has revealed that Clear’s role could widen so he helps Ferrari’s other junior drivers – including Schumacher at Haas and F2 race winner Robert Shwartzman
“Jock Clear is a great person and great professional, and has been in Ferrari many years,” said Binotto.
“We had some chats with Jock in the past weeks and we would like to develop him even more as a driver coach, not only for Charles but looking ahead at the future to our own young driver line-up we have got at the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA).
“Next year we've got Mick in Haas starting his experience in F1, but we've got still young drivers competing in F2 - like for example Robert Shwartzman. And there is Callum Ilott, who will be our test driver next year, will do simulator, and will do free practices.
“So the role of Jock will be to assist all these drivers to develop themselves as drivers, and try to exploit the most of their potential.”
Binotto said that the driver coach role was an important one in terms of helping evaluate on-track performances and find areas where improvements can be made.
“He supports the drivers in order to perform and drive to their best,” added Binotto. “He looks at their lines, looks at the way they are braking through the corner, accelerating, and managing tyres.
“They are there to support the race engineers, performance engineers and drivers, to make sure that the driver is developing well.”
Schumacher is stepping up to Haas next season off the back of his title-winning campaign in F2. He joined the Ferrari Driver Academy at the start of 2019.
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