Daniil Kvyat, who was pushed down by Red Bull F1 team, has joined the Scuderia Ferrari as a development driver.
The primarily role of the Russian, who joins a long list of drivers at Ferrari, will involve F1 simulators. The team showed no interest for him to be on track, rather he will be driving virtually.
Kvyat was demoted from the Red Bull senior team and finally dropped in October for not performing at “his true potential”.
The team will be working with the last year duo, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, in 2018.
Ferrari have a reserve of good drivers, if for any inevitable reason either of the drivers are unable to race.
However, Monegasque Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari protégé who will be making his F1 debut with Sauber team this season, is the prime contestant for making to the Ferrari duo.
The Finnish driver is believed to be enjoying the last chance with Ferrari after several dull seasons. And Leclerc is believed to be a potential candidate for replacing him as Vettel’s number two.
Sources closed to Leclerc team has reported that the 20-year-old will be replacing Raikkonen in 2019, if his performance reached the level expected from him during this season.
Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari president at the team’s Christmas lunch, said: “When things go right, it’s a pleasure to see [Raikkonen] driving. In other moments it seems like he takes a break.
“He needs more consistency in terms of performance, but it’s important to find the right key to make him driving like in Monaco also on other circuits.
“Probably this is the last season to find the right key and we must do it. I think it would be a shame if he left F1 without showing his real potential.”
Marchionne added: “We see Leclerc, [Red Bull’s Max] Verstappen and [Antonio] Giovinazzi, drivers with great skills, who can deliver a big change in the driver market. I’m still happy to have chosen Leclerc.
“I think that if we cannot find the right key for Raikkonen, the choice will fall on a young driver.”
Antonio Giovinazzi, 24-year-old Italian driver who was Ferrari reserve driver last year, had the similar role with Sauber as of Leclerc. But Giovinazzi was outperformed by the latter in the pecking process this year.
