As well as unveiling its 2010 challenger, the F10, Ferrari today became the last F1 team to launch a scheme bring young talent through feeder series to F1.
The initiative will be called the Ferrari Drivers Academy.
“For the first time Ferrari is concentrated on the precise goal of looking for new talents,” said Luca Baldisserri at the convention centre of the team's Fiorano test track.“The programme, which will start this year, includes several activities – from scouting to training to a driving school, to find new talents and let them grow to be part of Formula 1 with Ferrari one day.”
“Ferrari is the last team taking part in projects dedicated to young drivers and I really believe in this
project, because the drivers' motivation is fundamental as of the start of the career.”
“It's worth a lot that the drivers not only learn how to drive but also how to talk to the sponsors, to the press and that they know several languages. The programme for professional drivers also
includes 5 training periods during the year in Fiorano, Mugello and Vallelunga as well as a final event of the season and an evaluation at the end of the year.”
Baldisserri added that twelve drivers were currently being considered, though he only mentioned F3 Euroseries champion Jules Bianchi by name, pointing out that the team would be looking at talent all the way from karts to the more familiar series such as Formula 3, Formula 2, GP2, World Series by Renault and the new GP3 series.
The Academy will also feature familiar names to motorsport fans, Baldisserri describing how “[Ferrari] are also relying on many prestigious consultations, such as Minardi, Andrea Bertolini in the area of karts and other professionals in Italy and abroad.”
