After a 2014 rookie season in GP2 which generally disappointed with the odd flash of potential, Italian Raffaele Marciello has joined the Trident team for a make or break year in GP2 for the Ferrari academy driver, as he looks to challenge for the title during his second year in GP2.
Marciello moved into GP2 last year as the reigning FIA European F3 champion, and joined Racing Engineering for a debut year which disappointed, although with flashes of his promise such as his impressive Spa feature race on his way to 8th in the final standings. For this year he juggles a GP2 title challenge with the Italian Trident team, alongside a reserve driver role with the Sauber team as he looks to get acclimatised to F1 before a potential graduation next year.
The Trident team is on the up after a 2014 season which yielded their best ever finish of 6th in the teams championship, and will look to improve on this with the young Ferrari academy driver. Marciello commented on his announcement by stating "I am absolutely delighted with the agreement reached with Trident,I have been able to feel their trust and interest straight away and I really appreciated their attention towards me and my driving style. Given this strong reciprocal interest, I am sure we will be able to work in great harmony with the goal of achieving the best possible results."
He also added " know that there is a lot of work to do but, also thanks to the support of Ferrari and FDA, I think we have what it takes to succeed. Concurrent with the announcement Trident team principal Maurizio Salvadori gave his thoughts on the news "By reaching this agreement, I can say I fulfilled one of the dreams I have been chasing for a long time. The dream of having an extraordinarily capable Italian racer like Raffaele in our GP2 Team,at the same time, I understand that the expectations on him and on the results for 2015 are very high, but I am sure that the technical staff of Trident Motorsport is in condition to deliver Lello with a winning car, and everybody is determined to achieve the goals we have set."
For Raffaele Marciello this year will be crucial to his dreams of racing in Formula One, after a shaky 2014 season in GP2 he will be looking to vastly improve and challenge for the title this year. The young Italian will face stiff competition from the likes of Stoffel Vandoorne, Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn, although if he can challenge for the title and impress Sauber in his reserve driver role, expect him to step up to F1 next year with the Sauber team.
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