Ferrari’s reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi made his first appearance for the team during a two-day test at the Fiorano circuit, sampling Formula One machinery for the first time.
Towards the end of the 2016 season, last season’s runner-up of the GP2 championship was confirmed as Ferrari’s third driver for the 2017 season. The role will give the Italian more simulator time and will likely result in further test outings over the course of the season.
The two-day test in the SF15-T, approved by the FIA, was used to correlate the data gathered from the simulator and the test track, with Giovinazzi running on Thursday. Kimi Raikkonen driving during the morning of Friday’s running before handing the car back to Giovinazzi for the afternoon running.
“It was a wonderful feeling, as this was my first time driving a Formula 1 car,” said Giovinazzi.
“For an Italian, driving out of the pits in a Ferrari is an amazing experience. The actual testing was very interesting, with so many procedures to follow. But the guys in the team were very nice to me and extremely helpful and that made everything much easier. I’d like to thank the whole team.”
Ferrari will be running in Fiorano again on February 9th and 10th when they evaluate Pirelli’s wet-weather tyres for 2017 season.
