Ferrari confirm their F1 reserve and development drivers for 2023
Ferrari have named a group of four F1 reserve and development drivers who will provide support to full-time racers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz during the 2023 season.
Former F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi and 2021 F2 runner-up Robert Shwartzman – who have both made several F1 test outings with Ferrari – will share the role of reserve driver, while making the most of a new simulator that launched in 2021.
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Giovinazzi has 62 F1 starts to his name, initially making two substitute appearances for Sauber in early 2017 before completing the full 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons alongside Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo.
Shwartzman finished second to new McLaren F1 racer Oscar Piastri in F2 just over a year ago, and made FP1 appearances for Ferrari in the United States and Abu Dhabi towards the end of the 2022 F1 season.
Alongside them, GP3 and F2 race winner Antonio Fuoco and GT star Davide Rigon will act as development drivers, with Ferrari noting that the pair “have proved their worth in terms of providing the engineers with precise and reliable feedback” through their simulator duties.
All four drivers will take on racing programmes in 2023 alongside their F1 roles, with Giovinazzi and Fuoco recently confirmed to be taking on the World Endurance Championship in the 499P Hypercar.
READ MORE: Giovinazzi to race for Ferrari in World Endurance Championship alongside F1 reserve duties in 2023
Meanwhile, Shwartzman and Rigon will race the new 296 GT3; Shwartzman in the SRO GT World Challenge Europe and Rigon in the SRO series as well as WEC and the IMSA Endurance Cup.