Photo: Red Bull

Four more young drivers have been named as getting time in contemporary Formula 1 machinery at Yas Marina Circuit over the next week.

The first opportunity comes tomorrow in free practice one for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, then next Tuesday is F1’s official young driver test.

For FP1, Alpine has called up reserve driver Paul Aron, while Red Bull Racing will run future Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad and that team has called up its test driver Ayumu Iwasa.

It had long been anticipated Aron would be back in the cockpit this weekend, since Alpine had stated earlier this year that after being loaned out to rival Sauber for two practice outings he would then have a further three with them.

“I’m looking forward to being back behind the wheel of the A525 this weekend,” said the 21-year-old, who came third in Formula 2 last year and has been focused on reserve driver duties through 2025.

“The [FP1] performances in Monza and Mexico City were very positive for my personal development as a driver and I’m looking forward to building on that for a final time this year.”

Iwasa graduated from the Red Bull Junior Team for 2025, but into a test driver role after Isack Hadjar beat him to a race seat at Racing Bulls. He has driven in three practice sessions for the team over the past two years, while also racing in the top-tier Super Formula championship at home in Japan.

In his rookie season he came fifth, and won the title this year but was overlooked by Racing Bulls for 2026 in favour of Lindblad. He concludes his rookie F2 season this weekend, and is in contention to come fifth in the points.

Lindblad started his single-seater career in 2022, and his F1 promotion was announced two days ago. Last year he was fourth in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, and he began 2025 by winning the Formula Regional Oceania championship.

The latest additions from junior single-seaters to F1’s young driver test next week are Dino Beganovic and Kush Maini.

Beganovic is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and will test with the team after two practice call-ups in 2025. He is another F2 rookie, and sits eighth in the standings with one win so far.

Far more experienced in F2 is third-year driver Maini, who has also won in 2025 but languishes down in 15th in the points table. He will test with Alpine, who he is a reserve driver for.

“I can’t wait to take part in the post-season Abu Dhabi test and to have my first proper experience of the A525,” said the 25-year-old.

“Yas Marina Circuit is one I know well from F2 and it will be impressive to see the level of performance F1 cars have around this track. I’m very appreciative of the team for trusting me in this role and will aim to do the best job possible with the programme the team gives me.”

The post Aron, Beganovic, Lindblad and Maini to gain F1 mileage in Abu Dhabi appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Joe Skibinski

Every year, some of junior single-seaters’ top drivers are handed professional opportunities. Some lead to long-term careers in sportscars, while others try out the more cut-throat world of F1 and IndyCar

In addition to annually ranking the top 50 drivers in junior single-seater racing since 2011, Formula Scout also recognises the achievements of the very best of those who ‘graduate’ into the world of professional racing each year.

There were three Formula 2 race-winners who debuted in F1 this season, and while two of them quickly became de facto stars of the grid they are not eligible for this list since their primary programme was F2. Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman contested three grands prix and scored seven points, earning himself a full-time seat with Haas next year, and Williams handed its junior Franco Colapinto a surprise F1 promotion mid-season and he scored five points from nine races.

Bearman competed in all F2 rounds that didn’t clash with his F1 duties but struggled to 12th in the standings (his three wins countered by engine issues and a lack of pace elsewhere), and Colapinto dropped out of F2 once he became an F1 driver. Despite missing four rounds he still came ninth in the points. There are rumours he could appear in F1 again in 2025, despite no seats being free, but returning to F2 is also an option having contributed to an explosion in Argentine sponsors in racing.

Jack Doohan, third in F2 in 2023, made his F1 debut with Alpine in the season finale ahead of racing full-time there in 2025.

Taylor Barnard also won in F2 before dumping it once McLaren signed him to its Formula E team, but he did 20 races in the former and only four in the latter this year. He began the 2024-25 season this month by making the Sao Paulo E-Prix podium.

Another ineligible name is Esteban Masson, who won the Formula Regional-based Eurocup-3 championship last year but through his sponsors and the backing of Toyota ended up in GT sportscars for 2024. He drove a Lexus in the FIA Endurance Trophy for GT3 cars, and in the European Le Mans Series claimed two class wins and came second in the standings.

Photo: Antoine Evora

However Toyota is sending him back to single-seaters next year, and in Japan’s third-tier Super Formula Lights series.

There were 15 drivers who could have made Formula Scout’s Class of 2023, but didn’t perform strongly enough – or in a series with not enough high-quality opposition to be compared against – to make the cut.

Cayman Islander Kyffin Simpson was FRegional Americas champion in 2021, then became a development driver for IndyCar powerhouse Chip Ganassi Racing. Before that he was in Honda Performance Development’s GT3 academy programme, which could have led to a professional single-seater drive when he was just 17 as his FRegional title earned him a scholarship from HDP (which he turned down) to step up to Super Formula.

He took the more sensible option of building his experience in Indy Nxt, and despite failing to win in his two seasons there got a IndyCar seat for 2024. Not only that, but a full-time ride with Ganassi. And was signed after a single test day in the car.

At the time, Simpson said “I don’t really have any expectations set for myself”, but he had a race-winning car at his disposal and two title-winning team-mates to learn from as a rookie. Externally, there were expectations being set that few anticipated he would meet. But then the 19-year-old finished 12th on his debut with the second fastest lap.

That ended up being Simpson’s best race result, and he only qualified in the top 20 three times en route to 21st in the points.

Over in Super Formula there was another questionable signing, as TGM Grand Prix put 18-year-old Juju Noda in one of its cars. The Euroformula race-winner had primarily spent the previous two years in club series for third-tier single-seaters, so had a lot to learn about higher levels of downforce and racecraft. While becoming the third ever woman to race in SF during its time as a top-tier single-seater series is impressive, she qualified more than two seconds off the pace everywhere and only late safety car periods prevented her from finishing more than a minute behind the winner in every race.

Photo: Super Formula

Performing stronger in their rookie campaigns were Iori Kimura (B-MAX Racing) and Hibiki Taira (Team Impul), who were the top two in Super Formula Lights last year. The former scored three points, and the latter took two as a part-timer as well as coming third in Super GT’s secondary GT300 class with INGING. He took a win and three second places there.

Stepping up to FE after four years and four wins in F2 was Jehan Daruvala. The Indian drove for Maserati and came 21st in the standings, starting three races in the top 10, taking the fastest lap in the Monaco E-Prix and finishing a career-best seventh in one of Berlin’s races. It was not enough to retain his seat for 2025.

Most junior single-seater graduates ended up racing prototype sportscars this year, but one made it into the top Hypercar class. Carl Bennett, a Formula 4 race-winner with Eurocup-3 experience, joined Isotta Fraschini in the World Endurance Championship but the brand only lasted five races before dropping out and in that time a 14th place was the best result.

In the lower-level LMP2 machinery he came 10th in the Asian Le Mans Series and 20th in ELMS, concluding both campaigns with podium finishes.

Gregoire Saucy, a podium finisher in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, drove a United Autosport-run McLaren to ninth in WEC’s GT3 class (doing enough to retain his seat for a second season and earn an FE test with McLaren through mutual team boss Zak Brown), and in ELMS led a LMP2 Pro-Am entry to two overall seventh places as a reliably fast driver.

ELMS was full of former open-wheel talents, with F2 race-winner Clement Novalak (Inter Europol Competition), 2023 F2 runner-up Frederik Vesti (Cool Racing) and 2022 champion Felipe Drugovich (Vector Sport) coming seventh, ninth and 15th in the standings respectively. Novalak was also LMP2 runner-up in the Le Mans 24 Hours, while the latter two served as F1 reserve drivers at Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG respectively. Vesti will race a Cadillac hypercar in IMSA next year.

Photo: ELMS

USF Pro 2000 race-winner Bijoy Garg came 11th overall for United Autosports in ELMS and 19th in IMSA’s LMP2 class with one podium, and Indy Nxt podium-finisher Rasmus Lindh appeared part-time in IMSA and ELMS in various cars.

One-time FRegional Europe podium-finisher Maceo Capietto won in ELMS at Mugello, with a place close to his FIA Platinum-graded team-mate Matteo Cairoli and was the fastest LMP2 rookie at Le Mans, but that pace wasn’t on show everywhere.

The F1-supporting Porshce Supercup attracted a surprisingly high number of sportscar newcomers in 2024. Former F2 racer Lirim Zendeli made a second attempt at redirecting his career, after his detour into USFP2000 last year only resulted in one win, and was 12th in the Supercup standings as well as coming fourth in Porsche Carrera Cup Italy with two poles with Ombra Racing. Monaco Increase Management was responsible for Zendeli’s move, and some of his results didn’t show the continual upwards trajectory he was on.

Eurocup-3 race-winner Francesco Braschi and FREC graduate Victor Bernier were 15th and 19th in the Supercup, with the former taking podiums in Italy while the latter came sixth in Carrera Cup France – two places behind the rookie champion and former FREC rival Marcus Amand.

As none of these names could make the cut, here is Formula Scout’s Class of 2023… Key Wins (W), poles (P), fastest laps (FL)

10. Kas Haverkort NETHERLANDS 21y/o
8th in Porsche Supercup, 7th in PCC Germany (1 W, 1 P, 1 FL), 5th in PSC Southern Europe (2 W)   2023: 4th in FREC (2 W, 2 P, 4 FL)   2022: 5th in FREC (2 W, 1 P, 2 FL)

Photo: Porsche

Another driver to spend their 2024 racing in spec series for Porsche GT cars, and the most successful of them, was Haverkort.

The 2020 Spanish F4 champion continued a trend through his car racing career of only driving for Dutch teams by joining GP Elite to do three different series in one year. This contrasted to having spent the previous three years in just one series, with his three FREC campaigns not earning him a place higher up the single-seater ladder.

In the Supercup, the most prestigious of one-make series, Haverkort qualified 10th on debut and improved to sixth place in the race. Around the streets of Monaco his FREC experience was of use and he started and finished fourth, earning him top rookie honours, and two further top-10 finishes followed at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone.

At the Hungaroring, where he had won from pole in FREC, Haverkort was pipped to top spot in qualifying by just 0.078s and then held second place for the first six laps of the race before being passed. Once gapped by the top two he settled in third, marking another rookie classification win as well as his first overall podium.

Although he remained on the pace following that, he had disastrous races at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza that dropped him from fourth to eighth in the standings and cost him the rookie title.

In Carrera Cup Germany he again showed his speciality for the Hungaroring by winning from pole, and two Red Bull Ring podiums before another bad season finale earned him seventh in the points. Yet again the rookie title went amiss due to a bad final race. Not quite delivering on his promise was made more difficult by the fact he had begun the year with two Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe outings that had resulted in two wins and fifth in the standings.

9. Nolan Siegel UNITED STATES 20/o
23rd in IndyCar, Le Mans 24H LMP2 winner, 53rd in IMSA LMP2 class, 17th in Indy Nxt (1 W, 1 P)   2023: 3rd in Indy Nxt (2 W, 2 FL), 5th in Asian LMS (1 W), 8th in IMSA LMP2 (2 W), 24th in Intercontinental GT Challenge, 25th in IMSA LMP3 (1 FL)

Photo: McLaren

Siegel won in USF2000 in 2021, USFP2000 in ’22 and Indy Nxt in ’23, so was heading to IndyCar in 2024 rightly timed?

He came third in the Indy Nxt standings last year, and opted for a second season with HMD Motorsports. But his off-season preparations included IndyCar and SF tests, which prompted a change in plan. Dale Coyne Racing had supported his Indy Nxt entry through 2023, and after his IndyCar test with them he signed to contest four races which didn’t clash with Indy Nxt.

His racing schedule began in St. Petersburg, where he took pole and dominated Indy Nxt’s season-opening race. IndyCar’s non-championship $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club followed, and Siegel was seventh in his heat so didn’t reach the main race. Rick Ware Racing got involved in running his car for the Long Beach Grand Prix, and he finished a lapped 20th. Siegel was runner-up in the next two Indy Nxt races, and was still second in the points when he left round three of the season.

At the Indianapolis 500 he flipped in practice, then was far too slow to qualify for the race so had a second non-start.

A sorry turn of events meant Augustin Canapino withdrew from racing at Road America, and Siegel dropped out of Indy Nxt to take his seat at Juncos Hollinger Racing. Once in the car, which had previously been run in a commercial alliance with McLaren, Siegel had another weekend of being lapped.

Siegel never appeared in Indy Nxt again, as he then signed a multi-year IndyCar deal with McLaren. There was an instant improvement in qualifying by having a more competitive car, twice being 11th on ovals, and came from 20th to finish seventh at Gateway. On a points-per-race basis he would’ve been ahead of his fellow Indy Nxt graduates, but overall his IndyCar campaign didn’t make an impact.

What brings Siegel into this list is his impressive sportscar career. At the Daytona 24 Hours he was in the LMP2 class’s only Ligier and outpaced his team-mates, then won the Le Mans 24H’s LMP2 class at his first attempt. He did the world’s toughest race with less preparation than rivals due to IndyCar commitments meaning he missed testing. A big achievement.

8. Ollie Gray BRITAIN 19y/o
7th in ELMS, 14th in PCC Italy, 22nd in PSC Southern Europe   2023: 28th in FIA F3   2022: 2nd in British F4 (2 W, 2 P)

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Marcel Wulf

Only in his fourth year of car racing, Gray made a canny career move after a disastrous FIA F3 campaign in 2023. And like Bearman’s rise to F1, it was thanks to the WH Sports management company.

Williams had signed Gray as a junior driver in 2022, and he rewarded its faith by coming second in British F4 with Rodin Carlin. He moved up to F3 with the team, but he and the team were very uncompetitive. Three 14th places were his best results, and he came 28th in the standings.

WH Sports, as with other clients, was quick-moving to find a place where Gray could show off his talents to the world (and of course sponsors) again as soon as possible and found him an ELMS seat alongside IndyCar driver Luca Ghiotto and Novalak.

Campaigns in spec Porsche series with Ombra were added almost immediately after. The PSC Southern Europe season took place between January and March, meaning Gray could get used to racing with a roof over his head early in the year in an environment with less scrutiny than other series. He did two rounds, and penalties cost him a podium on his first outing.

Ghiotto had one LMP2 start to his name prior to the ELMS season, so it was critical for the Inter Europol drivers to learn off each other to be competitive as they couldn’t truly rely on one experienced talent like other line-ups. The combination finished the season opener in 10th, and at Paul Ricard spent two spells in the lead. Their time up front ended with 20 minutes to go as the gearbox went, and a drive-through penalty and race interruptions ended podium ambitions at Imola.

Third place was less than 1.3s away at Spa-Francorchamps, then Gray qualified the car fourth at Mugello and the crew were dominating the race before full course yellows, virtual safety car periods and then red flags brought them back into the pack. Gray was at the wheel then, and tried to reclaim the lead on the restart. Under the next VSC he handed the car over to Ghiotto, who took it from seventh back up to third. The trio finished fifth in the Algarve finale despite Gray ending lap one in 41st after being spun around and then hit.

He also had to pit the car for repairs, but cycled into the lead before making his first proper stop and returning to the track in sixth. Gray was attempting to overtake his team-mate for third before a VSC period began, then he handed the car over. Ghiotto had it in third before a late splash-and-dash pitstop that meant they finished a hard-fought for fifth place.

Gray’s performances did not go unnoticed, and he has now tested a hypercar in America. A big change from 12 months ago.

7. Lorenzo Fluxa SPAIN 20y/o
3rd in ELMS (2 W), 9th in Euroformula (1 W, 1 FL), 12th in Le Mans 24H LMP2, 16th in Int. GT Open   2023-24: 19th in ALMS   2023: 4th in FRegional Middle East, 7th in FRegional Europe

Photo: Marcel Wulf

Victorious in ELMS’ dramatic Algarve finale, and in the opening race at Barcelona, were Cool Racing’s Lorenzo Fluxa, Malthe Jakobsen and Ritomo Miyata.

Fluxa was win-free but competitive in FRegional last year, then stepped up to Euroformula with Motopark for 2024. After one round, in which he took a win, a second and a third, the German team then moved him across to its International GT Open line-up. In the ‘sister’ series to Euroformula, he took three consecutive top-five finishes in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to come 16th in the standings as a part-timer.

ELMS took priority, and the Cool Racing crew’s two wins was accompanied by two retirements. At Paul Ricard they were comfortably leading before car issues forced Jakobsen to retire the car in the final hour, a result that undid their title hopes, then at Imola it was Fluxa who started the car and he kept it clean for an hour-and-a-half to sit in third. But one mistake proved very costly, as a spin as a round of pitstops began meant that when he did pit the car came back out in ninth place.

That result still would’ve earned some crucial points, but stand-in driver Paul-Loup Chatin (since Miyata was racing in F2) then crashed out hard while trying to lap an LMP3 car shortly after the race’s two-hour mark.

At Spa they were in contention to finish third after Fluxa’s time in the car, but in the dramatic squabble for the position late on Jakobsen had to settle for fifth. Fluxa had a battle-filled and fun first two stints at Mugello, but in that time he and several other crews lost far too much time to the cars up front and once his team-mates took over the car dropped to ninth.

The Algarve victory was some justice for a season of learning that had the potential to turn Fluxa and his team-mates into champions. They also did Le Mans, and finished 12th in class.

6. Hunter McElrea NEW ZEALAND 25y/o
IMSA Enduro Cup LMP2 champion (2 W, 1 FL)   2023: 2nd in Indy Nxt (2 W, 2 P, 4 FL)   2022: 4th in Indy Nxt (2 W, 3 P, 1 FL)

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Photo: Chris Jones

The 2023 Indy Nxt runner-up had to wait until July to make his IndyCar debut in Toronto, driving the car Siegel was initially contracted to be in. Afterwards, he boldly claimed he could’ve been “fighting with good pace at the front”.

McElrea was the top rookie in practice, and comfortably faster than Dale Coyne team-mate Toby Sowery, but failed to set a lap in qualifying after crashing and lined up 25th on the grid. He ran as high as ninth before his first pitstop, then 10th in his second stint, before retiring from 20th place.

“Did some cool moves. And then on my last stint, on my outlap I just got in the grey, and just brushed the wall, and then unfortunately a couple laps later the suspension failed from just that little brush. Really unfortunate.”

He then joined Ed Carpenter Racing for post-season testing and was second fastest at The Thermal Club, and is looking for further IndyCar outings in 2025. But his racing future is already secured, after an impressive rookie season in IMSA.

McElrea drove for TDS Racing in the LMP2 class, and only in the five races (ranging from six to 24 hours) that made up the Endurance Cup. The car had already been retired before McElrea got in it at Daytona, which made for an even harder race debut in the Sebring 12 Hours. But on the bumpy track the LMP2 pace was set by McElrea (with the Kiwi put in the car while it was still light), and the TDS car finished 1.127s short of victory.

At Watkins Glen he was again one of the fastest in race conditions, but crashed out in tricky weather conditions. When he returned to the car for the last two IMSA rounds, he was victorious both times. The car finished in the top eight overall in both races, the latter being Petit Le Mans, and meant the crew also won the Endurance Cup. McElrea will stay with TDS for 2025.

5. Arthur Leclerc MONACO 24y/o
4th in ELMS (1 W, 1 FL), Italian GT Endurance champion (2 W, 3 P)   2023: 15th in F2 (1 FL)   2022: 6th in FIA F3 (1 W, 1 FL)

Photo: FocusPackMedia - Marcel Wulf

Photo: ACI Sport

Leclerc spent 2024 learning from some immensely experienced and talented drivers, accelerating his own development as a result. in ELMS he drove an LMP2 car for Panis Racing alongside Charles Milesi (a class winner at Le Mans and champion in WEC) and Manuel Maldonado, while in Italian GT he shared Scuderia Baldini’s Ferrari 296 GT3 with Giancarlo Fisichella, a man with 229 F1 starts and many class wins in IMSA and WEC to his name.

The 24-year-old brother of F1 racer Charles headed to sportscars after a single season in F2 featuring one podium, and following a 2022 in which he had won in FIA F3 and also been FRegional Asian champion.

Although he exited the Ferrari Driver Academy at the end of 2023, Leclerc got a job with the brand as one of its F1 development drivers and as part of that he did several private tests and drove in practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In ELMS he was Panis’s fastest driver in qualifying on his debut, then his team-mates put the car on pole twice later in the season. They turned the first of those into victory at Imola, and went to Algarve contending for the title. But after taking pole, it was a race of going backwards and they finished 16th overall. Despite the sour end, it was a campaign where Leclerc didn’t look like a rookie and Ferrari rewarded him with a hypercar test as well as his F1 running.

Over in Italian GT, the Fisichella/Leclerc car was on pole for three our of four races and won two of them to take the title.

4. Ayumu Iwasa JAPAN 23y/o
5th in Super Formula (1 P)   2023: 4th in F2 (3 W, 1 P, 3 FL)   2022: 5th in F2 (2 W, 2 P, 1 FL)   2021: 12th in FIA F3 (1 W)

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Red Bull

Failing to become the first Red Bull junior to be Super Formula champion, as a rookie, potentially cost Iwasa a 2025 F1 seat.

Like Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson before him, he proved himself in F2 but with no berth at Red Bull’s second F1 team was sent off to Japan to drive top-tier single-seaters there. Straight away, Iwasa targeted the title with Team Mugen.

He qualified 11th and finished ninth on his debut at Suzuka, then at Autopolis finished second from pole and at Sportsland SUGO started and finished second. Iwasa missed out on pole by just 0.017s at Fuji Speedway, but fell to 11th on lap one and never recovered from there.

At Twin Ring Motegi he climbed from 13th on the grid to seventh, and in the first race of the Fuji double-header took another second place. The next day was tricky, qualifying 12th and finishing sixth, which put him on the backfoot for Suzuka’s season-ending double-header.

Another front row start for race one, ahead of all of his title rivals, was the perfect base to boost his title hopes from but a technical gremlin left him stranded on the grid. From 20th place, he recovered to ninth in the 31-lap race but was now out of title contention. A “very big frustration” followed as he qualified 11th for race two, had to completely rethink his set-up and could only finish seventh.

He ended the season fifth in the standings, and following that Iwasa made an F1 practice and test outing with RB. But he didn’t do enough to earn a seat with the team, and Honda chose to renew his contract with Mugen instead.

3. Theo Pourchaire FRANCE 21y/o
25th in SF, 28th in IndyCar   2023: F2 champion (1 W, 2 P, 2 FL)   2022: 2nd in F2 (3 W)   2021: 5th in F2 (2 W, 1 P, 3 FL)

Photo: James Black

Photo: McLaren

Pourchaire has already had his mental health tested during his career, but the ups-and-downs of 2024 was a whole new level.

The 2023 F2 champion was sent off to SF by long-time backer Sauber, but only lasted one race there before being left without a race campaign and just his F1 reserve driver duties (which didn’t lead to any free practice appearances).

Then McLaren needed a stand-in driver for IndyCar due to David Malukas being injured, and Pourchaire was handed a brilliant chance to prove himself at single-seaters’ top level and scrub his SF cameo from his mind.

He finished 11th on debut in the Long Beach GP, having never driven an Indy car prior to the weekend, and McLaren used him again at Barber Motorsports Park. The results weren’t good, but internally McLaren was impressed and dropped Malukas to sign Pourchaire (who wasn’t bringing budget) for the rest of the year bar the Indy 500 due to him having no oval experience.

Still only 20, Pourchaire thought he may have found a new racing home and relocated to the USA. He finished 19th on IMS’s road course, kept a cool head while others crashed in Detroit to qualify seventh and finish 10th, then was 13th at Road America. Siegel came along after that and took the seat, and Pourchaire tried to keep his head up.

McLaren still rated him, and when an injured Alexander Rossi withdrew from racing in Toronto there was an obvious stand-in.

“Last-minute call, 10-hour flight, six hours of jet lag, almost no sleep, first time driving in six weeks, straight to qualifying & new track. That’s a lot of problems to manage, but we made it work with McLaren!” he beamed afterwards. “From 26 to 14th in the race here in Toronto, by far the craziest experience of my life.”

Upon the expiry of his 2024 contract with Sauber, Pourchaire was announced as Peugeot’s test and development driver in WEC after he impressed in a hypercar test. He will find out next year if his signature is still wanted in F1 and IndyCar.

2. Jonny Edgar BRITAIN 20y/o
ELMS champion (1 W), 30th in IMSA LMP2   2023: 13th in FIA F3 (1 W)   2022: 12th in FIA F3 (2 FL)   2021: 18th in FIA F3

Photo: FocusPackMedia - Jan Patrick Wagner

Photo: Marcel Wulf

Edgar’s name was mentioned so many times in ELMS commentary this year, as AO by TF Sport went on a title charge.

Like Leclerc, he was able to soak up the experience of team-mates Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica, who had already won ELMS and WEC titles together. Yet another crown was clearly the aim for those two, and Edgar stepped up to the plate.

He couldn’t outpace his team-mates in qualifying, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of given the standard they were setting, and in races he was strong wheel-to-wheel and also able to handle lapping traffic without too much trouble. The worst result came on his debut, as the crew lost a lap due to pitstop timing in relation to a safety car period.

They finished third at Paul Ricard, Edgar battled for second through the first two stints at Imola and his team-mates were able to retain the position, and at Spa the trio took victory from pole. The points leaders finished fifth at Mugello, and coming through the choatic Algarve finale in second place was more than enough to deliver the title.

Edgar warmed up for his ELMS campaign by racing an LMP2 car at Daytona and Sebring, and in the latter he was driving for the final stint in the middle of the night. He passed more experienced drivers to finish fourth in class, 7.603s off victory. For 2025, Edgar will continue in IMSA’s LMP2 class while also driving a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for TF Sport in WEC.

1. Christian Rasmussen DENMARK 24y/o
22nd in IndyCar, Daytona 24H LMP2 winner    2023: Indy Nxt champion (5 W, 5 P, 5 FL), 11th in IMSA LMP2 (1 FL)

Photo: Christian Rasmussen

Unlike other IndyCar rookies, Rasmussen did not have a race-winning car at his disposal this season and so 22nd in the standings, with a single top-10 finish and three missed races as ECR team boss Ed Carpenter took over his car for several oval races, made him the most impressive newcomer to single-seaters’ top level.

Although Mid-Ohio was where his best results came, as he qualified eighth and finished ninth, there were other events where he made more of an impact. At Barber he was in fourth before his final pitstop, a mechanical issue forced him to retire in Detroit after a brilliant cool-headed race spent mostly fighting for seventh or eighth place.

When Rasmussen did get to drive on ovals, he also impressed in the races. At the Indy 500 he was one of many Chevrolet-powered drivers who had engine issues in qualifying, but from 24th on the grid finished 12th and only 5.3s behind the winner in a 200-lap race that ran green through its final quarter. He ran as high as fourth, and never lower than 22nd.

In race one around the Milwaukee Mile he did go a lap down but also got up to sixth place and ultimately finished 11th. He was one of few drivers actually able to make overtakes in the final stint. The next day (after yet another engine change copped him a grid penalty) he ran his first lap in a podium position, but finished 16th after being one of several drivers who ended up on a very bad seven-stop strategy.

Rasmussen concluded his season with a 14th place, and before making his debut he also won the LMP2 class at Daytona.

Not long after the IndyCar season ended, ECR announced a multi-year deal for Rasmussen be one of its full-time drivers.

The post Formula Scout’s Class of 2023 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ferrari

Before even getting his surprise Saudi Arabian GP call-up, Ollie Bearman knew he had a busy season of F1 work ahead of him. But was he preparing himself for that in such a big year for his racing career?

The biggest news at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has not been one of the various storylines that have continued from Bahrain the previous week, but the suprise Formula 1 debut handed to Ollie Bearman at Ferrari.

Considered one of the favourites for the 2024 Formula 2 title, the 18-year-old from Essex had a dire start to his season last weekend as he qualified 18th and could do no better than 15th in the two F1-supporting races at Bahrain. Those who had paid attention to pre-season testing at the same venue would’ve already seen Prema’s lack of pace, and the comments made by Bearman and his team about it being a track-specific struggle.

But it was such a struggle that it led to some self-questioning about whether the uncompetitivity could continue. However once Bearman hit the track in Jeddah this weekend he knew he was going to be rapid once more. The outcome of that on Friday was taking pole, but now he will be denied the opportunity to start from the front of the F2 grid (and potentially go two rounds with no points since his entry has been withdrawn) as he will driving in F1’s race instead.

A lot can change in a week, and Formula Scout spoke to Bearman in the Bahrain paddock about what his aims were with the F1 work he already scheduled: that being six free practice appearances with Haas, a rigorous testing programme with Ferrari and pitwall shadowing at various grands prix with the two teams since he is the reserve driver for both.

“The goal of these runs is just to prepare me for F1, so just getting up to speed faster, getting on the pace, finding confidence in the car, giving good data for the team as well and showing them what I can do,” said Bearman.

“I think I did a decent job at the end of last year with my two FPs and I just want to continue working and building up. It’s a great opportunity; I want to make the most of it.

Photo: LAT Photo

“Of course [being Ferrari’s most established junior driver] is an opportunity. Especially now I’m a reserve driver for Ferrari and for Haas. It’s nice that they have faith in me for that. But at the end my main goal is F2 and the F1 side is very much in the back of my mind at the moment especially with all the work we have to do at the moment, F1 is not on my mind.”

That certainly changed on Friday morning in Jeddah when Ferrari announced that Carlos Sainz Jr had appendicitis and needed surgery so Bearman would be taking his place for the rest of the race weekend. It’s an opportunity far bigger than a free practice outing for Bearman to show what he is capable of in an F1 car, and could prove to be key to his ambitions to be on the grid full-time in 2025.

However there won’t be a seat at Ferrari free next year, as the team has already signed seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to replace Sainz and be team-mate to Charles Leclerc. But that could still work to Bearman’s advantage.

“There’s no doubt [Hamilton] is one of the best drivers of all time,” Bearman said to Formula Scout. “So it’s great to bring some experience for the team and I hope he can bring his talent and push the team forward as well. It’ll be great for everyone. I’m sure he’ll bring his knowledge and everything, which is great for me as well.”

After Saudi Arabia, Bearman’s next scheduled F1 mileage on a race weekend is in FP1 for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on May 17. His outings with Haas after that are in June, July, October and December.

“The FP1s aren’t for a while, so I’ve still got time to focus on F2, which is of course my main commitment,” he said after taking pole in Jeddah.

“Eventually I will have to do the FPs, but it’s a fantastic opportunity, to make the most of it and see it as a positive. More laps on track. Where we get very limited track time [in F2], I get quite a few laps more. So I aim to make the most of that, even if it’s a different car.

Photo: LAT Photo

“And it’s been really nice to kind of get to know the engineers in both Ferrari and Haas. They’ve definitely helped me. Also I have a pretty intensive test programme coming up with Ferrari, which is helpful as well. More laps is always a good thing.”

Looking back at his first F1 test, which was at Ferrari’s own Fiorano test tack last October, Bearman told Formula Scout it was a “pretty emotional” experience.

“You see all the greats – Schumacher, Alonso, Vettel and more recently, Leclerc, people like this. Pulling out of that Shell garage and I managed to do that two years after my first appearance in Fiorano in Formula 4 so it was a really quick development and it makes me very proud.

“My mum and dad were there to support me so it was a very proud moment for my parents and emotional too.”

Bearman’s father attends every F2 round and is used by his son for “mental support” and to be “someone to kind of fall back on” when things go wrong. However his mother is usually absent.

“She’s a bit superstitious, she doesn’t like coming to the racesm,” he revealed to media in Jeddah. “It seems like every time she comes, I have a bad race. So she stays at home now. She’s not invited anymore.”

While the focus is on F2, Bearman has begun preparations for an F1 future in less obvious ways such as moving to Italy and working on speaking the local language of both Prema and Ferrari. He detailed the lifestyle changes to Formula Scout.

“[My fluency] is getting there. I speak a lot of Italian with my trainer and within Ferrari. I’m not great. I mean, it’s not perfect grammar, but they understand what I’m saying and it’s the best way of learning. I change all the languages on my phone, on my TV and my car. Everything’s in Italian and it’s a good way to learn.

Photo: Prema

“I got a new apartment [in Modena] and it’s nice to be living there pretty much full time. I’m fully Ferrari, through-and-through now.”

As for the cuisine, he adds: “I prefer to go and buy some pasta. My cooking needs some work but I definitely need to be better at cooking eventually. If I want to succeed I need to cook better.”

Bearman also needs to swap his right-hand drive car from the UK for something more suitable for Italian roads, and while Ferrari has not supplied a company car from its own fleet yet his race debut this weekend may change his eligibility for one.

Bearman interview by Roger Gascoigne

The post What Bearman’s F1 mindset was before his surprise call-up appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Prema

Ollie Bearman will make his Formula 1 race debut in this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, replacing an ill Carlos Sainz Jr at Ferrari.

At the start of this year Bearman became one of Ferrari’s reserve drivers, having been a member of its young driver development programme since 2022 and having completed his first F1 test with the team last October.

He then drove for Ferrari’s engine customer Haas in two F1 practice sessions at the end of 2023, and this year will make six practice outings with the team and also be its reserve driver.

Ferrari announced Bearman’s race call-up before the third practice session of the weekend in Saudi began via a tweet:

Carlos Sainz has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery. As from FP3 and for the rest of this weekend, he will be replaced by reserve driver Oliver Bearman. Oliver will therefore take no further part in this round of the F2 championship. The Ferrari family wishes Carlos a speedy recovery.

Bearman is currently in his second season of Formula 2 with Prema, and the day before being called up had taken pole on the Jeddah track for F2’s grand prix-supporting feature race. Now he will have to miss the rest of the weekend, meaning Virtuosi Racing’s Kush Maini provisionally inherits pole for that race and Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti starts on reversed-grid pole for the sprint race.

“What an opportunity, Ollie!” Prema said in a team statement. “While we are sad to withdraw the #3 car that was starting from pole at Jeddah, we are delighted to see Ollie make his F1 debut in a Ferrari!”

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Photo: Ferrari

Ferrari has announced that Ollie Bearman will join its roster of Formula 1 reserve drivers this year, and that Arthur Leclerc has been signed as one of its development drivers.

The 18-year-old Bearman became a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy after winning the German and Italian Formula 4 titles in 2021, and he finished third in the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2022.

Last year he stepped up to Formula 2 and came sixth in the standings as a rookie. He claimed four victories and took three poles. In October he completed his first ever laps in an F1 car at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track in Italy. The Briton drove the team’s 2021 car to prepare himself for then appearing in free practice for the Ferrari-powered Haas team at the Mexican and Abu Dhabi grands prix.

Haas also called him up for post-season testing at Yas Marina Circuit, and were unerstood to have sought his services for 2024 as well. But for now his priority, alongside his second F2 season with Prema, is to share F1 reserve driver duties at Ferrari with Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Shwartzman.

Leclerc, younger brother of Ferrari’s long-time F1 race driver Charles, was an FDA member from 2020 to 2023. His time as a Ferrari junior ended only four weeks ago, after a four-year spell in which he had become Formula Regional European Championship runner-up, FRegional Asia champion, an FIA F3 race-winner and then a F2 podium-finisher as a rookie last year.

For 2024 he will race in the Italian GT championship, and his F1 development driver role – which will primarily involve simulator and set-up work – will be shared with Antonio Fuoco and Davide Rigon.

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Photo: Ferrari

Ferrari’s Formula 2 star Ollie Bearman completed his first Formula 1 test at the team’s Fiorano circuit on Wednesday.

His first ever F1 laps came behind the wheel of the SF-21 car from the 2021 season as he prepares to drive in free practice with the Ferrari-powered Haas team during the upcoming Mexican and Abu Dhabi grand prix weekends.

Ferrari said he completed more than 400 kilometres, exceeding the 300 required to qualify to take part in an official F1 session.

“Leaving the garage in a red car around a track like this, it was quite an emotional moment,” he said. “It’s a childhood dream fulfilled to drive an F1 car, I was really, really happy.

“But then, you get round the first corner and you’re straight to work trying to understand what this car needs. I was really shocked at the speed of course, the acceleration is really amazing.”

Bearman was signed to the Ferrari Driver Academy after winning the German and Italian Formula 4 titles in 2021, and last year he finished third in FIA Formula 3. He’s sixth in the F2 standings with one round left of his rookie campaign, having claimed four victories.

Both Bearman and Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur have confirmed he will return for a second season of F2 in 2024, and Vasseur has suggested he will also get ‘much more’ in the way of opportunities next year to prepare for F1.

“The step is quite high with the F1, because we have no testing anymore, we have more and more sprint event with just one FP1, we have three tests during the winter, it means that it’s quite difficult to adapt to the F1 and the rookies not always successful,” Vasseur told media during last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.

“I think Oscar [Piastri] did a very good job also because he had one year of preparation last year and he was already used to the F1. And we have to prepare in advance and it’s why we give him two FP1s this season with [Haas] and probably much more next year and we will prepare him for the future. So far, he’s doing a very good job in the junior series but we know that it’s a long way.”

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Photo: Maserati

With new teams queuing up to gain entry to Formula 1, it is hard to imagine today that a shortage of available cars could result in the World Championship being run to Formula 2 regulations. But from 1952 to 1953 that is exactly what happened.

In bringing this two-year interlude to an end, the 1953 Italian Grand Prix, held 70 years ago on 13 September, therefore marked the last World Drivers’ Championship victory for an F2 car.

Formula Scout delves deep into the archives to explain what pushed the FIA into this decision and why that race was remarkable for more reasons than one.

Formula 2 (or Formula B as it was initially called) had been created by the forerunner of the FIA in October 1947 with the aim of generating increased interest from the motor industry by offering a technologically simpler and cheaper alternative to Formula 1, which had come into being one year earlier.

The rules specified normally-aspirated engines of up to 2000cc, with an option, largely ignored, for 500cc supercharged engines instead.

The first race for the new formula took place in Perpignan in April 1948, with Maurice Trintignant taking victory in a Gordini-Simca, while Ferrari made its first appearance with a stripped-down sportscar at the Bari Grand Prix in May 1948, with pre-war ace Tazio Nuvolari one of its drivers, four months before the debut of Ferrari’s first F1 car.

The F1 World Championship itself was launched in 1950, with the opening round taking place at Silverstone in May.

Having dominated the first two seasons, Alfa Romeo shocked the sport by deciding to withdraw from Grand Prix racing at the end of 1951, throwing the future of the fledgling championship into jeopardy.

The only possible rivals to Ferrari were the British Racing Motors (BRM) factory who had designed an impressive sounding but hugely complex and ultimately rather disappointing V16-engined monster. The future of F1 hinged on the competitiveness of the BRM.

Alberto Ascari (Photo: Ferrari)

However, when the British team failed to appear for the non-championship Valentino GP in Turin, it was the race organisers rather than the FIA that took the initiative. One after the other, they gave up on F1 and announced that they would run their races for F2 cars only, with the continued exception of the even more anomalous inclusion in the calendar of the Indianapolis 500.

Faced with a fait accompli, the governing body had no alternative but to declare the World Championship for F2 cars, in the hope that other manufacturers would provide some competition to a strong Ferrari team, led by the fast Alberto Ascari, whose father Antonio had won the Italian GP in 1924.

The move did attract interest from a variety of manufacturers, including Gordini, HWM, Cooper and, most significantly, Maserati, but none was a match for the dominant 4-cylinder Tipo 500 Ferrari, one of motor-racing’s all-time classic designs, which had first appeared in 1951.

Not for the first time and certainly not for the last, regulation changes intended to close up the field actually had the opposite effect, leading to one of the most dominant driver/team combinations in the history of the sport.

Having missed the opening round in Switzerland in order to take on the Indianapolis 500, Ascari won all six remaining rounds in 1952 to comfortably win the title.

Maserati, expected to be the main challengers to their Italian rivals, were also absent in Bern but soon suffered an even bigger blow.

The 1951 World Champion, Juan Manuel Fangio, had joined the team after Alfa Romeo’s withdrawal and made his debut three weeks later in the non-championship Monza GP driving the new Maserati A6GCM.

Fangio had been racing one of the fearsome V16 BRMs in the Ulster Trophy, a non-championship F1 race at Dundrod in Northern Ireland, the day before and after flying to Paris, had driven through the night to get to the circuit for the race.

Fangio at Reims (Photo: Maserati)

After missing qualifying, he started from the back of the grid. Exhausted, he made a mistake in the race, spun wide at Lesmo, hit a straw bale (no Tecpro barriers in those days) and rolled the car.

Fangio was flung out of the car (no seatbelts either), lying unconscious and gravely injured by the side of the track as the race continued without him. With broken vertebrae in his neck, he would take no further part in the 1952 season.

For 1953, Ascari continued where he had left off with another three wins – thereby setting a record of nine consecutive World Championship Grand Prix wins only surpassed by Max Verstappen earlier this month.

His run was broken not by a rival from another team but by his Ferrari team-mate, dashing up-and-coming British driver, Mike Hawthorn, at the French GP.

Ascari won twice more through the summer, with 1950 World Champion Giuseppe Farina maintaining Ferrari’s 100% record with victory at the Nurburgring when an errant front wheel cost Ascari another certain win.

Fangio had returned to the cockpit at the opening round, appropriately in Argentina, and the Maserati package began to look increasingly competitive in the hands of Fangio and compatriot, Jose Froilan Gonzalez.

Through the summer, Fangio had run the Ferraris close, finishing second in the French, British and German GPs, and taking pole in Belgium and in Switzerland.

Coming to Monza for the final World Championship GP of the year, Ascari had already wrapped up his second title. For Fangio, it was his first return to the scene of his 1952 crash.

Though Ascari again started from pole, he was unable to pull away from a four-car pack with Farina, Fangio and the Maserati driven by Fangio’s protege, Onofre Marimon. The lead changed hands frequently, often multiple times per lap, as the quartet slipstreamed each other down Monza’s long straights (no DRS and no chicanes), diving through traffic (without the aid of blue flags to clear an unobstructed path).

Photo: Maserati

Marimon dropped out of the battle after a stone pierced his oil radiator, rejoining three laps down but right in the middle of the leading group.

Rounding what is now the Parabolica on the last lap, Ascari appeared to run wide on some oil, spun and was rammed by Marimon, with Farina taking to the grass in trying to avoid his team-mate.

Somehow Fangio threaded his way through the chaos to take the flag, recording the first ever World Championship victory for Maserati, and bringing to a close this odd chapter in the sport’s history.

While chaos in a race at Monza for F2 cars is far from unusual, it is maybe surprising for modern readers that a race could run for almost three hours without a single safety car or red flag.

In addition to being the last World Championship event before the introduction of new Formula 1 regulations for 1954, the 1953 Italian GP at Monza was noteworthy for two other reasons.

After complete domination by Ferrari, winning all 14 World Championship Grands Prix held over two seasons, Maserati had finally broken Maranello’s stranglehold with victory, the first ever for the Modena factory.

This record of continuous World Championship Grand Prix victories by a single manufacturer remained unbeaten until Verstappen scored Red Bull’s 15th win in a row almost exactly seven decades later at the 2023 Italian GP.

Maserati would take a further eight wins in the rest of the decade, earning Fangio the 1957 World Championship, before withdrawing as a works team the following year. Maserati remained absent from single-seater racing for over 60 years before returning to competition in Formula E in 2022.

Following Monza, Enzo Ferrari announced that he was pulling out of motor racing, although fortunately this has been a common occurrence in the team’s history and the decision was soon reversed. There are still plenty of pages to be written in Ferrari’s World Championship history.

Farina, Fangio and Ascari on the front row at Monza (Photo: Ferrari)

Ferrari made a brief return to F2 in the 1960s, with Tino Brambilla winning twice in 1968 in European F2, before withdrawing finally in 1969 to concentrate its efforts on F1. However, in 1977 a Ferrari-powered privately-entered Chevron did take Ferrari’s final win in the category in the hands of Lamberto Leoni.

Thoroughbred F1 cars returned, as planned, for 1954, with a new 2.5-litre formula which would last until 1961. The F2 category limped on although virtually no races were staged until a new 1.5-litre formula was introduced in 1957, which itself mutated back into the 1961 F1 regulations.

While Fangio would go on to win the next four World Championships for Mercedes, Ferrari and Maserati before retiring in 1958, Ascari never again had the machinery to take the fight to his great rival. In 1955, he took part in an unplanned test at Monza, crashing fatally at the Curva del Vialone, since renamed in his honour as the Variante Ascari.

Formula 2 cars did continue to compete against their F1 siblings on occasion through the 1950s and 1960s, whenever the field needed some extra entries or the circuit length permitted a larger grid. Jacky Ickx famously qualified an F2 car third for the 1967 German GP at the Nurburgring.

Of course, it couldn’t happen today. F1 being left with just Ferrari and a couple of backmarkers? Of course, that did actually happen at Indianapolis in 2005, although that was a one-off race not a whole championship. And nobody thought to invite F2 to take over the remaining races.

But yet….

Ironically, we may witness the driver of an F2 car taking victory in a World Championship Grand Prix again in 2024.

Not at the circuit but in the cinema.

The fictional APXGP team, seen filming at Silverstone and Monza this summer, has been using modified Dallara F2 cars for drivers Sonny Hayes and Joshua Pierce, played by Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, for the forthcoming Lewis Hamilton-backed racing movie. An F2 champion, Luciano Bacheta (from the MotorSport Vision-run series of 2012), has been driving the cars along with Superleague Formula star, Craig Dolby.

The plot is naturally a closely-guarded secret but it is hard to imagine that the stars of Hollywood won’t win at least one race.

The post When Formula 2 ruled the world appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Ferrari will run its reserve driver Robert Shwartzman in the opening practice session at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.

Each Formula 1 team is obliged to run ‘young drivers’ in two practice sessions during the season, and Shwartzman is assuming that position for Ferrari for a third time after contesting FP1 at last year’s United States and Abu Dhabi grands prix.

Shwartzman joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in late 2017, days before the final round of the Formula Renault Eurocup which he would end up finishing third in.

He won the Toyota Racing Series and came third in FIA European Formula 3 in 2018, won the FIA F3 Championship in 2019, took four race wins as a Formula 2 rookie in 2020 and was runner-up in the series two years ago with another two wins.

There was no F1 seat awaiting him after that, and Ferrari made him its test driver for last season while retaining him in its driver development programme. Shwartzman again missed out on an F1 seat for 2023, and a place in Ferrari’s hypercar line-up, but did start the year by conducting an IndyCar test with Chip Ganassi Racing.

He also drove in Formula E’s rookie test for DS Penske, straight after starting his racing programme for this year which is co-piloting a factory-blessed AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 GTE in GT World Challenge Europe’s Endurance Cup.

In his latest F1 outing at Zandvoort, Shwartzman will be taking over the car of Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari also has to run a ‘young driver’ in Charles Leclerc’s car later in the season, and Shwartzman is expected to be called up again for that.

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Ferrari has promoted its former junior Robert Shwartzman to a Formula 1 reserve driver role for 2023, in addition to giving the Russian a seat in sportscar racing.

Shwartzman joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in late 2017, days before the final round of the Formula Renault Eurocup which he would end up finishing third in.

Under Ferrari’s watch he went on to win the Toyota Racing Series and finish third in FIA European Formula 3 in 2018, win the FIA F3 Championship in 2019, take four race wins as a Formula 2 rookie in 2020 and then be runner-up in the series in 2021.

There was no F1 seat awaiting him after that, and Ferrari made him its test driver for last season while retaining him in its driver development programme. Due to a new rule mandating teams run inexperienced drivers in at least two free practice sessions, Shwartzman got to drive for Ferrari on the Friday of the United States and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekends.

Shwartzman again missed out on an F1 seat for 2023, and a place in Ferrari’s hypercar line-up, but did start the year by conducting an IndyCar test with Chip Ganassi Racing.

However his racing future now lies in GT3 sportscars, as Shwartzman will drive one of the factory-blessed AF Corse-run cars in GT World Challenge Europe’s Endurance Cup.

The five-race schedule includes the Spa 24 Hours, and date clashes mean Shwartzman will not be available as Ferrari’s reserve for the Spanish, Austrian and Belgian Grand Prix.

He will be sharing reserve duties with former F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi, whose own Ferrari sportscar committments in the hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship clash with F1 and means Shwartzman will likely be the on-site reserve driver for the Saudi Arabian, Azerbaijan, British and Brazilian grands prix.

Ferrari also announced that Formula 4 graduate Conrad Laursen will drive for AF Corse in the Asian and European Le Mans Series in a car shared with his father Johnny and Ferrari factory driver Nicklas Nielsen.

The older Laursen is already an ELMS champion, while the younger of the two has a single weekend of GT racing experience having done a round of Ferrari Challenge Europe last year.

Laursen Jr has raced in F4 since 2020, winning the Danish title as a rookie and then driving for Prema in the ADAC, Italian and United Arab Emirates series. In Italy he claimed two podiums in two seasons, won a race from his six rounds in the German series and took three podiums from his part-time UAE venture.

The post Shwartzman promoted to Ferrari reserve role and given GT seat appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Scuderia Ferrari

Antonio Fuoco has been at Ferrari nearly 10 years, rising up the single-seater ladder before moving to race GTs. He still works with the F1 team as test driver and recently experienced the Scuderia’s 499P hypercar

To have a long career with Ferrari requires results, loyalty and adaptability, and Antonio Fuoco – who is still only 26 – has just completed his 10th season racing with the Ferrari badge on his overalls.

Fuoco joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2013 for his first year in car racing, joining Jules Bianchi, Raffaele Marciello and Lance Stroll in the FDA’s ranks. That support continued through his single-seater racing career, which peaked at Formula 2, before he started combining his Formula 1 team roles with racing for Ferrari’s main GT sportscar teams.

“I’m in Ferrari for many years already and I hope that I can still be in this family for a longer time,” he tells Formula Scout. “And I’m still part of the development programme for the F1 with the simulator and all that stuff.”

Fuoco remains as passionate about life with Ferrari as ever. “I just try to give my best. I try to help as much as I can with my job. I’m proud of the job I’m doing. Being on this family, being in this team is a dream, so I just try to do my best and I do all the things they ask me to do.”

After exceeding expectations as a rookie by beating Luca Ghiotto to the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps title in 2013, Fuoco stayed with Prema for the move up to FIA European Formula 3. But not before he had taken four wins in the Florida Winter Series organised by the FDA and featuring several future F1 and IndyCar drivers all in Formula Abarth cars.

Despite a victory in the opening F3 round at Silverstone, Fuoco’s season was overshadowed by the battles between Prema team-mate Esteban Ocon and Max Verstappen. He took one more win, and finished fifth in the standings.

Fuoco perhaps had the misfortune to spend his formative years in karting and junior single-seaters in the company of a group of outstandingly talented young drivers including Verstappen, Ocon, Charles Leclerc and George Russell. On his day, however, he could beat these illustrious contemporaries, and did so in both karts and F3.

Photo: Roger Gascoigne

“I was against some great drivers who are now in F1, for example Charles, Max, Esteban, so many drivers,” he says. “They are all really good drivers. There is not one particularly fast, but I think they are all really fast.”

After two seasons in GP3 with Carlin and Trident, coming third behind Leclerc and Alex Albon in 2016, he rejoined Prema as he stepped up to Formula 2 in 2017, with karting rival and fellow Ferrari junior Leclerc as his team-mate.

Fuoco struggled to make an impression, while across the garage Leclerc was sweeping all before him on the way to the title and a 2018 F1 seat. The only win of the year for Fuoco came at home in Monza’s feature race – a result that he considers one of the highlights of his single-seater career.

“It was for some reasons a good year, for some reasons a tough year, but I did my best,” remembers Fuoco. “It was a fun year.”

Naturally, his F1 test and simulator driver role at Ferrari ensures that he remains in close contact with Leclerc.

“I learned a lot from him, we shared a lot of information during that year, and I’m still learning from him when I see him racing in F1.”

For his sophomore season in F2, Fuoco moved to the debuting Charouz Racing System team, winning the sprint race in Monaco, “a special place and a special race,” and at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

“All the seasons I did I always tried to do my best,” he says, looking back on his single-seater career. “Sometimes it worked well, sometimes it worked a bit less. It’s part of the game. We try to give our best and take what we have in the end.”

What he never lacked was passionate support from his loyal army of travelling fans. Wherever in Europe he was racing, Fuoco would be greeted by a vocal band of supporters armed with horns, flags and banners, cheering on their man. Social media has made such fanbases more common now, but there were none as active as Fuoco’s when he was in the junior series.

Sharing the FR2.0 Alps title celebrations

“It was quite emotional at that time,” he recalls. “Coming to a small category, let’s say, with all those people around was something special. I always thanked all of them because they came from the south of Italy, [and it] is not easy going all around Europe and around the world.”

“But it was a pleasure to see all those people close to me and I still have a lot of fans close to me, so it is something really special,” he adds.

Fuoco formally left the Ferrari Driver Academy at the start of 2019, although he remains involved in a consulting capacity. At the same time, he was promoted into a direct role with the F1 team as a simulator driver. In the years since he has succeeded Davide Rigon in leading the development of Ferrari’s simulation facilities as well as the F1 cars modelled in them.

His first experience on track in an official F1 test came in 2015 at the Red Bull Ring, with further opportunities following in Barcelona in 2016 and the post-season tests at Yas Marina Circuit in 2020 and ’21. The latter have been key parts of his job to make sure Ferrari’s simulator calibrates as closely to its real-world cars as possible.

Ferrari handed its two mandatory rookie free practice outings this year to 2021 F2 runner-up Robert Shwartzman, but Fuoco was willing to drive on a grand prix weekend had an offer come and if it did not clash with his other Ferrari commitments.

Since the end of 2019, Fuoco has been racing for Ferrari teams in GTE and GT3 sportscars. This year he has accrued air miles by combining the World Endurance Championship with works team AF Corse, the IMSA championship in the USA with Cetilar Racing and GT World Challenge Europe with Iron Lynx – a hectic schedule.

Fuoco took the fight for the title in the GTWCE Endurance Cup to the final round at Barcelona, although finishing second there meant he fell short of being champion by just three points. However, he then completed his year by winning his class in the Bahrain 8 Hours. It was a significant victory as it was the last ever one for a GTE car in the WEC.

Photo: SRO

GTs are “a different concept of racing but, for sure, all the experience I took from single-seaters I bring to the GTs”.

Unlike in single-seaters, “you always need to share the car with the other drivers, so sometimes you need to compromise your driving style to help the others”.

But he is revelling in what are still the early years of his sportscar career, as he had only actually contested two races in total prior to landing full-time seats in GTWCE and WEC in 2021, and – perhaps surprisingly – says that he actually prefers the endurance races to the sprints as “I like to share the information with the other drivers, to share the car with the other drivers”.

Doing multiple series has given him the chance to race in three 24-hour classics: Daytona, Le Mans and Spa-Francorchamps.

“We know that anything can happen in 24 hours,” he says. “The important thing is to be in the right place at the right time. We just need to keep calm, keep cool and try to do our best.”

For 2023, Ferrari will enter the WEC’s top class with the highly anticipated 499P Le Mans Hypercar. It will be the first prototype sportscar to be designed and constructed in Maranello in over 50 years, since 1971’s 312 PB.

Fuoco got his hands on the car at a three-day test at Algarve in September. Though Ferrari has remain tight-lipped on who will be getting the coveted race seats in the 499P, Fuoco admits that “if I will have the chance, for sure I will take it”.

For now though, his mind is on the job in hand. “My focus is just to do the best in the championship I’m doing,” he says, before adding “it looks at the moment it’s working quite well” and that “I really hope that we can continue on this direction”.

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