Ferrari signs Arthur Leclerc to young driver programme

Arthur Leclerc, younger brother of Formula 1 driver Charles, has been signed by Ferrari to become part of its young driver programme.

The 19-year-old has two seasons of single-seater experience under his belt, finishing fifth in his first season in the 2018 French Formula 4 championship before switching to ADAC Formula 4 in 2019, where he finished third in the standings, with one race win.

Ferrari also confirmed that Leclerc will be competing in the 2020 Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Powerteam this season.

The Monégasque driver will partner fellow Ferrari Academy driver Gianluca Petecof at the junior championship outfit and the Prancing Horse will have junior talent at every level of the single-seater racing ladder, with the Prema team housing the majority of the Ferrari academy drivers amongst its ranks.

Mick Schumacher and 2019 F3 champion Robert Schwartzman will both be racing in Formula 2 for the team while fellow academy drivers Marcus Armstrong, Giuliano Alesi and Callum Illot will compete as F2 rivals in different teams.

Enzo Fittipaldi, who finished runner up in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2019 will graduate to F3 for 2020 while Dino Beganovic, who was announced to be joining the Ferrari academy alongside Leclerc, will compete in Formula 4 with Prema.

“It’s been a busy winter for the Ferrari Driver Academy. We have been trying to build up the best development programme for our drivers in 2020, with a significant increase in their activities and training programme at our headquarters in Maranello,” Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies said of the announcement.

“We have also been scouting for more talented youngsters and we are happy today to announce that Arthur and Dino are joining us for what’s going to be a very exciting season.

“We have FDA drivers in all the categories of the FIA single-seater ladder and our focus will be on supporting them the best we can in their development as racing drivers and as young individuals.

“All of us in Maranello are very much looking forward to seeing how our nine young drivers will perform over the coming months.”