Italian Antonio Giovinazzi will be Ferrari’s Formula One reserve driver next season, the team said on Monday.
The 23-year-old, who is likely to drive the car in testing during the campaign as well as carry out work in the simulator, was runner-up in the GP2 feeder series this year.
President Sergio Marchionne also announced at a Christmas lunch for the media at the Maranello factory that Ferrari’s 2017 Formula One car would be unveiled on Feb. 24.
The team failed to win a race this year, after three victories in 2015, and Marchionne said there were still “many things missing. But the team is the team and it was put in place over a period of years and we’re not about to change it now.
“Our working practice is already different to what it was back in August, which is when Mattia Binotto took over the reins (as chief technical officer)...put in the work and the results will come.”
Ferrari have former world champions Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in an unchanged lineup next year.
“Sebastian was here yesterday, working in the simulator and he repeated the fact that he wants to win with Ferrari,” said principal Maurizio Arrivabene. “It’s up to us to give them a car capable of doing that.”
Chief exec Capito set to leave McLaren: reports
McLaren Racing chief executive Jost Capito is set to follow Ron Dennis out of the Formula One team, the BBC and Autosport.com reported on Monday.
McLaren did not comment on the reports and Capito was not immediately available.
The 58-year-old former Volkswagen motorsport director, who was recruited by Dennis, was appointed in January but did not start in the role at the Honda-powered team until September.
Former team boss Dennis, who remains a 25 percent shareholder in McLaren, was ousted in November with American marketing expert Zak Brown coming in as the new executive director.
Brown, who is also chairman of the Motorsport Network that owns Autosport.com, is working alongside chief operating officer Jonathan Neale with Eric Boullier in charge of the Formula One team’s day-to-day management.
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