Marciello: Ferrari's prince in waiting
When Ferrari scooped up Raffaele Marciello, he was a rough 15-year-old. Now he's on the cusp of the Euro F3 crown and facing an extremely bright future, as MARCUS SIMMONS reveals
Ferrari is motor racing's most famous name, so how would you feel if you were a 15-year-old kid signed up by the Prancing Horse with a view to, one day, carrying the evocative red colours in Formula 1?
Even more exciting, if you were a 15-year-old Italian kid...
Such a dream became reality for Raffaele Marciello in the winter of 2009-10, and now, nearing the end of his fourth season as a Ferrari Driver Academy member in single-seater racing, he sits embroiled in a fight for the Formula 3 European Championship title.
Share Or Save This Story
Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.
Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.
More from Marcus Simmons
Sutton tops final BTCC pre-season test
Wheldon Jr hailed as big talent by team boss after winning debut
How Ingram is seeking to reclaim the BTCC crown from Sutton
Excelr8 driver Pearson beats big guns in latest BTCC test at Croft
The tin-top world champion seeking to tick a "missing box" in the BTCC
Thompson stakes claim for full-time BTCC seat with first BMW test
Hill tops first official BTCC test
Thompson gets BTCC WSR BMW test at Brands
Latest news
How real-time scrutineering ensures fair and consistent competition in motorsport
How MotoGP brakes work: Secrets of stopping a 220mph bike
Hyundai enacts contingency plan after WRC Kenya fuel issue
Vanwall working on 2025 WEC comeback with heavily-revised Hypercar
Autosport Plus
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.