I
f you had to name one driver who has
demonstrated a truly extraordinary
affinity with Dallara single-seaters in
recent years, it would have to be Raffaele
Marciello. The Italian driver from the
Ferrari Driver Academy took the European
F.3 championship by storm, with 12 pole
positions, 13 victories and a further six
podium finishes, but that’s not all: once
the season was over he also took part in
the World Series and GP2 championships,
where he immediately made an impact,
achieving a series of fastest times on his
debut. In addition to confirming Marciello’s
talent, these results also demonstrate his
special feeling for the cars designed and
built in Varano de' Melegari. We asked him
for his impressions of the various different
Dallara models he has been entrusted with
over the past few months.
I don’t suppose that there can be any
doubt that the F.3 is your favourite car at
the moment. Three seasons, and a
prestigious title. What’s your opinion of this
car?
"I think it’s fantastic, but don't take it from
me, just look at the way that it has imposed
itself on the market. From a driver's point of
view there isn’t another preparatory level car
that comes near it; it offers by far the best
training experience, especially for the way it
teaches you to exploit the aerodynamic load.
Both the chassis and the aerodynamics are
over-dimensioned with respect to the power,
and as a result it's possible to reach really
impressive speeds on the curves".
So it’s no coincidence that you had no
trouble handling the F.Renault 3.5, which is
probably the fastest of the “junior” single-
seaters on the curves...
"Exactly, the F.3 prepares you so well in
this sense that, when you make the switch
to more powerful cars like the World Series,
you feel as though you’re ready...and you
are! This doesn’t mean I wasn’t impressed
with the F.Renault 3.5 at the outset, thanks
to the aerodynamics and the tyres it’s
amazing how much grip there is. Perhaps
the most difficult part is coming to terms
with just how far the car will allow you to
go, because at the beginning it doesn’t
seem possible".
And how did GP2 go?
"I developed a very good feeling with the
GP2 too. On new tyres it’s not so different
from the World Series, although you do
notice the slightly reduced load at high
speeds, so you need to be a bit more careful.
Obviously things start to change as the
number of laps increases, because the Pirelli
tyres wear out completely differently to the
Michelins. However, as I say, on new tyres
there's very little to choose between the two".
You’ve also been in the Dallara simulator,
what was that like?
"That was impressive too, especially when
you realise that the Dallara simulator is
the same as the one they use at F.1 the top
of the range. Unlike some other drivers, I
don’t suffer from 'seasickness' when I’m on
board. Naturally, in order to reproduce the
G forces of a single-seater, the hexapod has
to move around a lot, and that takes a bit
of getting used to, but after a coupe of
days you don’t notice it any more and you
can concentrate on driving".
Massimo Costa
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