Lewis Hamilton makes room for Ferrari’s credit man

Antonio Fuoco is Ferrari’s credit driver in other series. For the F1 team, he is a valuable simulator driver. PDO

Antonio Fuoco participates in the opening practices of the Mexican GP as a Ferrari driver.

The 29-year-old Italian replaces the one-hour training session Lewis Hamilton.

Fuoco, who worked as Ferrari’s trusted man for years both in the F1 team and in other racing series, finally gets to drive an F1 car during the official race weekend of the F1 series.

Fuoco’s driving is based on the rule of the F1 series, which requires each F1 team to drive an inexperienced driver in each car in two different practice sessions during the season.

Hamilton is giving up his car for the first time this season. Team mate Charles Leclerc already made room in Bahrain and Austria for the Swedish attack For Dino Beganovic.

Fuoco is no longer a junior, as the Italian first drove a Ferrari F1 car ten years ago. His career in the formula classes ended at the Formula 2 level, but Ferrari nevertheless took the man into their ranks. In the F1 team, he has worked as a simulator driver for years, sometimes getting behind the wheel of an F1 car outside of the F1 weekends.

Fuoco’s main job is driving the World Series of Endurance Races for Ferrari. The best achievement of his career is winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year.

In the opening practice sessions in Mexico, there are “junkies on the track”, as no less than nine teams out of ten will replace their racing driver with a youth guard. The exception is Sauber, which has already met the minimum of four driving requirements.