Maranello - Russian-Israeli driver Robert Shwartzman will share Formula One reserve duties at Ferrari with Italian Antonio Giovinazzi this season, the team has announced.
Shwartzman, 23, was previously a test driver for the Maranello-based team, while former F1 racer Giovinazzi was official reserve.
The Tel Aviv-born driver raced with a Russian licence in Formula Two, where he was overall runner-up behind Australian Oscar Piastri in 2021, before switching to an Israeli one after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year. He took part in two Friday practice sessions with Ferrari at grand prix weekends last year.
Ferrari said Italians Antonio Fuoco, 26, and Davide Rigon, 36, would be development drivers working in the new simulator that came on stream last year.
Ferrari, runners-up to Red Bull in 2022, will have the same race line-up of Monaco's Charles Leclerc and Spaniard Carlos Sainz under the new leadership of Frederic Vasseur.
Vasseur started work at Maranello at the beginning of January as the fifth Ferrari Formula One team principal in less than a decade. Only the second Frenchman to run the oldest and most successful team in the sport, Vasseur follows on from departed Mattia Binotto but with the giant shoes of compatriot Jean Todt yet to be filled.
The new boss, 54, is an old hand and on his third F1 team after joining Renault in 2016. The team have still not won a title since 2008 and have been making some glaring mistakes with their fans increasingly frustrated.
Ferrari’s 2023 car will be launched on February 14, meaning Vasseur's immediate focus will be more organisational - sharpening up the team's strategy, structure and reliability - than on the engineering side.
Reuters