Next year’s FIA Formula 2 Championship grid will see at least two aspiring second-generation drivers competing for overall honours, with Giuliano Alesi – the son of ex-F1 driver Jean Alesi – graduating from the GP3 Series with Trident Racing.
The 19-year-old Frenchman will compete against Michal Schumacher’s son, Mick, whose appointment to the frontrunning PREMA Racing team was announced earlier this month.
Alesi has spent the past three seasons driving for Trident in the GP3 Series, claiming three race victories in 2017 on his way to fifth overall in the Drivers’ Championship standings. His 2018 campaign proved tougher with only one victory and seventh in the final points ladder.
Alesi is a three-year GP3 Series veteran.
He spent two days driving for the Italian outfit’s F2 team at the end-of-season test in Abu Dhabi – finishing sixth-fastest on his final day of running – and is now the team’s first confirmed driver signing for the 2019 season.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Alesi said of his promotion. “First of all I want to thank Trident as it’s going to be a pleasure to continue racing with them in F2. This is a new category, a new adventure, which I’m really looking forward to.
“This year hasn’t quite gone as we all hoped, but I’m really looking forward to a successful season with Trident in 2019.
“We are going to work hard this winter, and try and come back as strong as possible for the season opener.”
Alesi, a member of Ferrari’s young driver academy, will face a tough challenge with Trident who was one of the Formula 2 Championship’s perennial backmarkers. The team wound up last in the 2018 Teams’ Championship standings with a trio of fifth-placed finishes its best result, and featured in the headlines for all the wrong reasons following in the mid-season when it fired Santino Ferrucci after the American was banned for two rounds for deliberately colliding with teammate Arjun Maini at Silverstone.
| 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship – Provisional Entry List | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Drivers | |||||
| Carlin Motorsport |  |
 |
Nobuharu Matsushita |  |
TBA | |
| ART Grand Prix |  |
 |
Nikita Mazepin |  |
Nyck de Vries |  |
| DAMS | |
 |
TBA | TBA | ||
| UNI Virtuosi Racing | |
 |
Guan Yu Zhou |  |
Luca Ghiotto |  |
| Prema Racing | |
 |
Mick Schumacher |  |
Sean Gelael |  |
| Charouz Racing System |  |
 |
TBA | TBA | ||
| Campos Racing |  |
 |
TBA | TBA | ||
| MP Motorsport | |
 |
TBA | TBA | ||
| Arden International | |
 |
TBA | TBA | ||
| Trident Racing | |
 |
Giuliano Alesi | |
TBA | |
Images via FIA Formula 2 Championship and GP3 Series Media Service
Geoff Burke
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