After being axed by Red Bull in his first season in FI, the Le Mans 24 Hours winner and World Endurance champion Brendon Hartley has been announced as part of a quartet of simulator drivers for Ferrari's development team.
The new team comprises of 24 year old Pascal Wehrlein, Brendon Hartley 29, Antonio Fuoco, 22, and Davide Rigon, 32.
Currently driving in Formula E for the Mahindra team, Pascal Wehrlein competed in Formula 1 in the 2016 and 2017 seasons having been crowned DTM champion in 2015.
Brendon Hartley moves to Maranello after racing for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula 1 last year. Brendon also has a solid background in endurance racing: he has been FIA WEC World Champion twice (2015 and 2017) and also won the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans. Antonio Fuoco has been part of the Ferrari family for his entire career through his time in the Ferrari Driver Academy and joins the simulator team after an excellent season in F2 that included a superb win in Abu Dhabi and Davide Rigon is a Ferrari simulator veteran. He has been driving the simulator since 2014 in addition to his work as an official driver in GT competitions. Amongst other categories, he has been racing for AF Corse Ferrari in the FIA WEC for many years and has won four world championship races with the team.
Mattia Binotto, Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal commented that “Our team has taken on four undoubtedly talented drivers, who possess innate feeling, with a strong understanding of race cars and tracks. These are exactly the qualities required in the skilful role of driving in a simulator, one of the vital pieces of equipment in the Formula 1 of today”.
