Whilst Sauber has added two new drivers to it's line up for next year, today they announced a new reserve driver also in Ferrari academy, prospect Raffaele Marciello. The Italian youngster has an impressive junior category CV and will dovetail Sauber reserve duties with a second season in GP2.
Marciello is seen as the latest Ferrari prospect of the future and impressed last year on his way to the European F3 title, before stepping up to GP2 this year with Racing Engineering. Whilst he struggled he still showed tremendous speed and will be aiming to improve on his 8th place finish this year when he returns with Racing Engineering next year.
Marciello himself commented on the announcement by saying "I am really pleased to become a member of the Sauber F1 team, which has a long tradition of building up excellent drivers, I really think that this is the best choice for my future career. I am also happy to compete for one more season in the GP2 Series, which, together with my new F1 role, will give me a very busy 2015 season."
Alongside this Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn added her thoughts on the announcement "He proved his great talent in junior formulas, and his season in the European Formula 3 Championship with 13 wins and the title victory was particularly impressive, We will give Raffaele the opportunity to become familiar with Formula 1, which also includes him taking part in some free practice sessions on Fridays."
This seems to be a good announcement for everyone concerned as firstly for Marciello he gets the opportunity to learn and impress in F1 with selected Friday Free Practice outings, whilst for Ferrari it gives them a chance to assess their latest prospect in the F1 environment. Finally for Sauber they get to look at a very fast young driver for the future thanks to their close relationship with the Ferrari, which could see him placed with the Sauber team in F1 if he impresses next year.
What are your thoughts on this announcement? Please feel free to comment below.
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