Ferrari have confirmed the identities of their Formula 1 reserve drivers for the 2023 season.
As was the case last year, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will lead the charge on the track for the Scuderia. Leclerc finished second in the drivers' standings and will want to provide more of a challenge for the title this year, while Sainz will also wish to be involved in that fight.
Should either of them be forced to miss a race weekend for any reason. Ferrari have two reserve drivers in place with one guaranteed to be at every Grand Prix. Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Shwartzman are the drivers who will share that role.
Giovinazzi is the more experienced with three years racing in F1 under his belt with Alfa Romeo. He partnered Kimi Raikkonen for all three of those seasons but was replaced after the end of the 2021 campaign by rookie Zhou Guanyu.
The Italian was linked with Haas as Guenther Steiner took his time to consider all his options for their undecided seat for 2023. It later became clear that his choices had been whittled down to Mick Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg, before he chose the latter.
Instead, Giovinazzi will take part in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) this year, driving the new Ferrari 499P Hypercar. That means Shwartzman will step in as Ferrari's reserve whenever an F1 race weekend clashes with the WEC schedule.
Shwartzman is the next most senior of Ferrari's academy drivers, having taken part in two FP1 sessions last year and the post-season test in Abu Dhabi. The Russian-Israeli is also set to take part in some endurance racing this year, though in the GT class.
Two other junior drivers, Davide Rigon and Antonio Fuoco, will also assist the F1 team this year by carrying out some simulator duties. The latter is also part of the Hypercar team along with Giovinazzi.
Leclerc and Sainz will take part in a test of Ferrari's 2021 F1 car at their Fiorano track later this month. They will also be joined by their new reserves Giovinazzi and Shwartzman as a chance for them all to shake off any rust which has built up over the winter.
