Image Courtesy of GP2 Media Service
After a debut season with mixed success, Raffaele Marciello will remain in the GP2 Series for a second campaign. The Ferrari Academy driver switches from Spanish team Racing Engineering to Italian Trident Racing, with whom he aims to create a good foundation for a promotion to Formula 1.
Marciello began his racing career in 2005 in karting, inspired by his father’s passion. Five years, three championship titles, and over 80 wins later, he stepped up to single-seaters in 2010 signing for JD Motorsports in the newly-launched Formula Abarth series. Marciello had an outstanding debut season: Finishing third in the championship with a win and two podiums caught the attention of Ferrari, and the young Italian entered the Ferrari Driver Academy.
For 2011, Marciello switched to the Italian FIA Formula 3 Series, which he also finished in third place with two wins and four podiums. A year later he was promoted to the FIA Formula 3 Euroseries and the FIA European Formula 3 championships. It was a successful season: scoring the most wins of all contesting drivers in both series, he finished the championships in third place and as runner-up, respectively.
Marciello chose to remain in the Formula 3 Series and was among the championship favourites from the beginning on. He did not disappoint and won the title after a season-long battle with Felix Rosenquist, taking 13 victories including a triple at the Nürburgring in Germany.
At the end of the 2013 season, Marciello took part in tests for both GP2 Series and Formula Renault 3.5. He signed for the former in January 2014, joining forces with Racing Engineering. The start of the season was rocky at best with a string of unlucky incidents preventing good results, and it was only during the fourth round in Austria when Marciello scored his first points taking two third places. The maiden pole position followed suit in next round at Silverstone. However, the weekend ended with a double DNF, and the unlucky streak continued until the last race before the summer break in Hungary, where Marciello was able to pick up a point in the sprint race.
Nevertheless, the Italian came back strong from the break and took his first GP2 victory in the Feature race at legendary Spa-Francorchamps. The following weekend at Marciello’s home race in Monza was a disappointment with a DNF in the Feature race, and while Russia saw the Italian claim a third place, it was still an unsatisfying end to the debut season.
Marciello made his Formula 1 debut during the post season test in Abu Dhabi, driving the F14 T for one day and scoring the second-best laptime after Mercedes’ Pascal Wehrlein. On December 31st 2014 he was announced as reserve driver for Sauber F1 Team in 2015.
After a debut season in which he was not able to show his full potential, Marciello is keen to return to the track with Trident Racing and take the next step forwards a promotion to Formula 1. “I am absolutely delighted to join Trident”, Marciello states. “I have been able to feel their trust and interest straight away and I really appreciated their attention towards me and my driving style. Given this strong reciprocal interest, I am sure we will be able to work in great harmony with the goal of achieving the best possible results. I know that there is a lot of work to do but, thanks to the support of Ferrari and FDA, I think we have what it takes to succeed”.
