Haas formally announced on Thursday morning ahead of this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix that it will retain the same driver line-up for next season by c🐭o🌞nfirming that Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin will stay on for a second campaign in 2022.

Continuation for the F1 rookies had long been considered a formality but a lack of official confirmation amid an evolving 2022 driver market had prompted some speculation over Schumac🧸her’s future in particular, with suggestions the Ferrari protege could take the sole-remaining seat at Alfa Romeo.

Speaking to media including mahbx.com ღon Thursday, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner revealed the American outfit was waiting on final details of Schumacher’s “long-term” Ferrari agreement to be signed off before making a🃏n announcement.

“As I a🐷lways said, I didn’t see any issues but obviously it wasn’t signed,” Steiner said. “I would not go out there and say ‘it’s all done’ until it’s all done.

"Mick has got long-term agreements with Ferrari - which I don’t know the detail of it, so don’t ask me about that one - and they had to figure some things out and that’s what took some tim𒆙e.

“All in all, I kn🎐ew it was moving in the right𝓀 direction, it was just the need to sort a few things out, that was the only reason.

“As I always told you guys, it’s going in the right direction but it was not signed, 🎐and until it’s signed, I cannot announce anything.”

Asked if the delays prompted Haas to speak to other drivers, Steiner replied: “No I didn’t have any🍸 chats with anybody else because we just had to confirm them, it’s the natural choice.”

Steiner said Haas had originally planned to announce i🐎ts driver plans for next season at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

“The aim was to do it in Monza but we didn’t get there,” h🍌e explained. “The honest thing was to do the announcement in Monza, we just missed a little bit the braking point, we overshot it.

"Therefore we did it here. There is no ot♕her reason we did it here. But I never spoke with any other drivers, no.”