Ferrari junior Ilott leads Sauber-affiliated F2 Charouz line-up

Ferrari Driver Academy driver Callum Ilott will join the Sauber Formula 1 affiliated Charouz Racing System for the 2019 Formula 2 season.

Charouz this year swaps its previous Ferrari Driver Academy tie-up for a new partnership with the Sauber F1 programme to form a young driver development programme.

It announced its full F2 and FIA Formula 3 line-up on Tuesday, with Lirim Zendeli leading the latter.

Ilott had a plum ART Grand Prix seat in the GP3 Series last year, finishing third in the championship behind team-mates Anthoine Hubert and Nikita Mazepin and scoring two wins and seven podiums.

Czech outfit Charouz was new to F2 in 2018, but showed strong race pace with drivers Antonio Fuoco - who took two victories - and Louis Deletraz steering it to sixth in the teams' championship.

"In one year, coming into the championship, Charouz showed really good pace," Ilott told Autosport.

"They did a really good job with few mistakes, and I was really impressed with them.

"And they were interested in me which is always nice.

"To get the seat is a privilege for me.

"In the environment which I'll be working in, everyone is pushing to go forward and pushing me just as much. That's an environment that I like.

"Also having only one other team-mate rather than three, it's quite personal.

"It's more like the F1 style. I think that's also a nicer environment as well."

Joining Ilott at Charouz is fellow GP3 graduate Juan Manuel Correa. The 19-year-old is likely to be the youngest driver on the F2 grid, and joins after a difficult season with Jenzer Motorsport last season.

"Result-wise, if I'm being honest, top seven in the championship would be a good year for me in F2," said Correa

"I think I'm the youngest and for sure the least experienced driver this year.

"It's not an excuse but you just have to be realistic, and to learn as much as possible.

"I think we can do a good job. A few podiums I hope and top six or seven in the championship would be a positive year for me."

Charouz has moved to a new and much larger base in Prague, and has also expanded to field cars in the new FIA F3 Championship as well as its existing teams in German and Italian Formula 4.

ADAC German Formula 4 champion Zendeli joins the team in F3 after running with it for last season's end of year GP3 test.

He will be joined by European F3 convert Fabio Scherer, who took 14th in F3 last year with Motopark, while Asian F3 champion Raoul Hyman completes Charouz's F3 line-up.

In Formula 4, the Sauber junior programme will link up with US Racing, the team run by Ralf Schumacher and former Mercedes DTM boss Gerhard Ungar, which took Zendeli to his German F4 title in 2018.

The team will race across the German and Italian F4 categories this year, and will be represented by karting graduate Roman Stanek, F4 South East Asia champion Alessandro Ghiretti, French F4 race winner Theo Pourchaire and a yet-unnamed fourth driver.

In other FIA F3 driver signings, Campos Racing has completed its line-up by recruiting Italian F4 graduate Alessio Deledda to join Alex Peroni and Sebastian Fernandez, while Jenzer has signed European F3 convert Artem Petrov.