Bright and early this morning, four candidates born between 2006 and 2007 arrived in Maranello for the Scouting Camp organised by the Ferrari Driver Academy working in partnership with the ACI (Automobile Club d’Italia).
Italy, USA, Ireland. This is the second Scouting Camp of the year to evaluate young drivers, following on from one in July, when another four youngsters were assessed. The FDA and ACI have worked together for several years, bringing talented youngsters to Maranello to evaluate their potential, using the methods employed by Ferrari’s young driver programme. The ACI selected Brando Badoer, from Treviso, Italy, currently racing in the Italian and German Formula 4 championships and fellow countryman Sebastiano Pavan from Padua, who is racing in karts. Joining the pair are James Egozi, from Florida, USA, also racing in karts and Ireland’s Alex Dunne from Dublin, currently doing well in the Italian Formula 4 championship.
In Maranello and Fiorano. Starting this morning, in the Scuderia Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, the youngsters tackled a packed programme with various sessions covering several aspects of the life of a racing driver. They include physical preparation, motorsport theory as well as how to deal with stress. As happened in the first Scouting Camp in July, track activity takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the quartet will drive a Formula 4 car, fitted with identical tyres to those used in the actual race series, supplied by FDA Technical Partner, Pirelli. The final day will feature a track walk on the historic Ferrari-owned circuit, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and has seen so many drivers pass through its gates.
Talent spotting. This is just one of several Scouting Camps organised each year by the Ferrari Driver Academy. The aim is to evaluate talented youngsters to see if they have what it takes to join the programme and one day race a Ferrari in Formula 1. At the end of the week, the FDA experts will decide if one of the four candidates is worthy of a place in the Scouting World Finals at the end of the year and maybe go on to secure a place in the FDA. Currently, there are seven young men and two young women in the Academy.