Sauber refugee Esteban Gutierrez has rescued his F1 career with a role at Ferrari.
The 23-year-old, who raced at Ferrari customer Sauber in 2013 and 2014 with strong Mexican backing, has become Ferrari’s new ‘test and reserve driver’. “We are pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to Esteban who, although young, has plenty of experience relating to the new generation of formula one cars,” said Ferrari’s new team boss Maurizio Arrivabene. “Welcoming Esteban also means opening the gates of Ferrari to a driver from Mexico, a country where the Scuderia still has a lot of fans, just as was the case 50 years ago in the days of the Rodriguez brothers,” he added.
In other news, Robin Frijn’s management announced that the Dutch reserve driver’s deal with the ailing backmarker Caterham has now ended. “The team obviously hasn’t exercised their option to extend the contract,” said 23-year-old Frijn’s manager Timo Gans. “We cannot deny that the year developed in a disappointing way, but we now have to focus on creating a better situation for next year.”
Finally, Toro Rosso sporting director Steve Nielsen has switched to a similar role at Williams. Before moving to Toro Rosso, Nielsen worked at Caterham and also the title-winning Renault team. “He has won world championships in the past and knows what needs to be done on a sporting level for Williams to do this again,” said technical boss Pat Symonds.
