Ferrari juniors Marciello and Fuoco sign new deals

Ferrari Academy Drivers Raffaelle Marciello and Antonio Fuoco have each signed new deals to race in Formula One’s feeder series GP2 and GP3 respectively. 

Marciello, who won at Spa-Francorchamps last year for Racing Engineering in his rookie GP2 season, will dovetail a Trident GP2 drive with his role as third driver at Sauber in Formula One.

“I am absolutely delighted to join Trident,” said Marciello. “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. I know that there is a lot of work to do but, thanks to the support of Ferrari and FDA, I think we have what it takes to succeed.”

Trident team principal Maurizio Salvadori added: “By reaching this agreement, I can say I fulfilled one of the dreams I have been chasing for a long time: 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 ready to provide Lello with a winning car, and everybody is determined to achieve the goals we have set.” 

Antonio Fuoco lands Carlin GP3 deal

Fuoco, who finished fifth in FIA European Formula 3 last year with two wins, is the first driver to be announced by Carlin in GP3 for 2015. 

“I am so happy about this new venture,” he said. “Together with Ferrari Driver Academy and my management, I have decided to switch category and face this new challenge by competing in the GP3 Series.

“I tested the car last November in Abu Dhabi and I immediately found the pace I need to be on top of the grid. Being part of such a successful team such as Carlin gives me the necessary tool to achieve important results.”

Team chief Trevor Carlin said: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Antonio to the team. He did a great job in testing with us in Abu Dhabi and we’re very grateful to the Ferrari Driver Academy for trusting us with this next stage in Antonio’s career.

“Our only aim is to win our second consecutive team and drivers’ titles in GP3 and with Antonio we believe we already have one driver who is capable of that. We look forward to working with Antonio in the next few months to prepare the strongest possible start to the season.”