F1 junior Callum Ilott gets full-time 2022 IndyCar seat

Ferrari Formula 1 test driver and Alfa Romeo reserve Callum Ilott has been confirmed to drive in the IndyCar series next season, when he will race for the Juncos Hollinger Racing team.

Callum Ilott has been evaluating his options beyond Formula 1 due to the fact that he was unable to find a seat on the grid for the 2022 championship despite the fact that the finished second in the Formula 2 championship last season, and has now missed out on the second Alfa Romeo seat.

He has raced in GTs this year alongside his Formula 1 commitments, but made a surprise switch to Juncos Hollinger – the team which knocked Fernando Alonso out of the 2019 Indy 500 in bump day qualifying – for the Portland IndyCar race earlier this month.

He subsequently signed up for the last two races after rejigging his schedule and will now compete with the team next year, including on ovals for the first time although there will be tests later this year for him to acclimatise.

“Coming into the final weekend of our three-race run on the West Coast, it’s great to announce that I will be continuing next year with Juncos Hollinger Racing for the 2022 season,” Callum Ilott said. “Obviously, we have had a steep learning curve here the last few races to try to put everything together. We have had some real positives and know the things we need to work on. Knowing what Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger have in place for next season and especially over the winter of what we can do in testing, I definitely feel we can put ourselves in a great position to start off the 2022 season strong. I look forward to continuing the work that we are doing and heading into the winter to start a new journey over here, and I would like to thank the Ferrari Driver Academy for allowing me to take this opportunity.” -he added.

In his role as Alfa Romeo’s F1 reserve driver, Ilott competed in first practice at the Portuguese and Austrian Grands Prix but missed out on a possible chance to make his F1 debut at the Dutch Grand Prix when Kimi Raikkonen tested positive for COVID-19. Ilott was busy making his IndyCar debut at Portland, so Robert Kubica was called in and raced at both Zandvoort and Monza.

He has been a part of Ferrari’s young driver programme since 2017 but it became clear in recent months that there wouldn’t be an opportunity for him to compete for either of Ferrari’s customer teams in Formula 1 next year.