Ferrari Chief Wants More Italian F1 Drivers, And Alfa Romeo Could Be The Key

Italy may be one of the first countries that come to mind when you think of Formula One, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a driver come from that country. Sergio Marchionne would like to see that change.

Ferrari just named Antonio Gionivazzi as its backup driver. The reigning GP2 runner-up hails from Martina Franca in southeastern Italy and has multiple wins to his name in Formula 3 as well as GP2.

His joining Ferrari will give him further opportunity to work on the the Scuderia’s simulator, participate in sanctioned test sessions, and potentially step up to fill in for Sebastian Vettel or Kimi Raikkonen should either be sidelined.

Those were the circumstances under which Ferrari called up first Luca Badoer, then Giancarlo Fisichella to fill in for an injured Felipe Massa in 2009. The last Italian to compete in a grand prix, however, was Tonio Liuzzi, who finished his career at the Hispania Racing Team in 2011 after having raced, with little success, for Force India, Toro Rosso, and Red Bull before it. The last Italian to take a checkered flag in F1, though, was Fisichella, who won the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix for Renault (a team with historical ties to Italy, but owned by the French and based in the UK).

CEO of Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Sergio Marchionne (and his racing chief Maurizio Arrivabene) ultimately made the call to hire Giovinazzi. And he’d like to pave the way for more Italian drivers to make their way into F1. His solution: Alfa Romeo.

Marchionne has been publicly toying with the idea of bringing Alfa Romeo back into F1, and using the benefit of Ferrari’s expertise to do so. Not unlike Red Bull and Toro Rosso, the prospective Alfa team could serve as a training ground for future talent from which Ferrari could draw. It just might take a while before any such plans could come to fruition.

“The problem is that, at the moment, because of the launch of road cars that will come out soon, there already numerous commitments from a financial point of view,” Motorsport.com quotes Marchionne as saying. “With the launch of the Giulia and the Stelvio, we have to wait for a bit, but I hope to be able to bring it back.”

It wouldn’t be the first time that Ferrari would help get Alfa on the grid. Prior to founding his own outfit after the war, Enzo Ferrari ran Alfa Romeo’s racing team. Helping the Milanese marque return, then, would only seem natural.