Arthur Leclerc joins Ferrari's young driver academy

Ferrari has announced that Charles Leclerc’s younger brother, Arthur, will join its young driver academy ahead of the 2020 season.

Arthur Leclerc, 19, came third in ADAC Formula 4 last year with one win and seven further podiums, and will move up to the Formula Regional European Championship in 2020 with Prema Powerteam.

Leclerc also previously worked with the Venturi team in Formula E as a development driver, and will now link up with his elder brother at Maranello.

The Monegasque youngster was named as one of two new drivers in the Ferrari Driver Academy on Friday alongside 15-year-old Dino Beganovic from Sweden.

“It’s been a busy winter for the Ferrari Driver Academy,” said Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies. “We have been trying to build up the best development programme for our drivers in 2020, with a significant increase in their activities and training programme at our headquarters in Maranello.

“We have also been scouting for more talented youngsters and we are happy today to announce that Arthur and Dino are joining us for what’s going to be a very exciting season.

“We have FDA drivers in all the categories of the FIA single-seater ladder and our focus will be on supporting them the best we can in their development as racing drivers and as young individuals.

“All of us in Maranello are very much looking forward to seeing how our nine young drivers will perform over the coming months.”

Leclerc and Beganovic join existing members Mick Schumacher, Robert Shwartzman, Callum Ilott, Marcus Armstrong, Giuliano Alesi (all Formula 2), Enzo Fittipaldi (Formula 3) and Gianluca Petecof (FREC) in Ferrari’s academy for 2020.