Esteban Gutierrez has been appointed Ferrari’s 2015 test and reserve driver. Esteban has spent the last two years on the Formula One grid with the Sauber F1 Team and has scored 6 points during that time. Gutierrez was dropped from the team in favour of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.
“It is an honour to become part of the Scuderia Ferrari family, a team with such an exceptional history,” said Gutierrez, “It is for me the beginning of a new path for my future and I’m going to do my utmost to contribute to the achievement of the targets set by the Scuderia.”
“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 Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene.
“I am sure that, with his experience, he will make an important contribution to the development work of the team in the simulator. 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 fifty years ago in the days of the Rodriguez brothers.”
Gutierrez recently commented that he wasn’t able to showcase his real ability at his time with Sauber and that he was looking for a reserve driver role in a top team.
“In my first year, I was a rookie, and there were many things happening which put me in a very stressful situation. Even then, I was able to show good performances in the second half of the year,” commented Esteban, “Then I come into my second year when I can show my full performance and potential, and I find myself in a team that has gone a lot backwards and isn’t really in a position to show anything from my capabilities.
“Many times I did really great laps in qualifying, also really good races, but from the outside it’s not something you can really realize, because obviously the result is the result, and that’s what we need to accept.”
2015 sees the return of the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the first time since 1992. Gutierrez’s signing as third driver, along with Ferrari’s history of Mexican drivers, will undoubtedly make them a favourite at the event on November 1st.
