Gianni Morbidelli will be test driver for ...

Published on 24 January 1997 by Verstappen Info Page

Gianni Morbidelli will be test driver for Ferrari in 1997. The Italian who just celebrated his 29th birthday has been test driver with Ferrari before (in 1995). Last year he didn't compete in F1 but the two years before he drove for Arrows. Further back in time Morbidelli drove for Dallara, Minardi and Lamborghini.

Damon Hill didn't enjoy his first test in Jerez with the new Arrows-Yamaha. The car suffered from software problems with the gearbox that couldn't be solved at the track. Next week another test session is planned at Silverstone.

Giancarlo Fisichella has shown his talent. In test sessions this week at Jerez he was a second quicker eventually than teammate Ralf Schumacher while he drove less laps than Ralf. Giancarlo eventually clocked 1:22.71 and Ralf 1:23.69. We think that Ralf will have a tough time competing with his talented Italian teammate.

A last Tyrrell test message: Jos drove 1:46.56 on Silverstone and Mika drove 1:53.12 the day before. Jos was faster than Mika but the weather conditions were better for him.