Ferrari Driver Academy member Marcus Armstrong has joined DAMS for the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, becoming the first from the Scuderia’s coveted young talent programme to race for the team.

Armstrong moved to Europe from his native New Zealand in 2016, winning the Italian Formula 4 title the following year as well as finishing runner-up in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship. He then made the move up to FIA Formula 3 in 2019, scoring three wins and becoming vice champion of the series before claiming two podiums in his maiden F2 season in 2020.

The Kiwi has already driven in the iconic DAMS colours during the 2020 post-season test in Bahrain in December.

The French outfit is one of the most successful in single-seater racing, particularly F2 and its Formula 1 feeder series predecessors GP2 Series and F3000. Since the current era began in 2017, DAMS has taken 15 wins and claimed the 2019 teams’ title. In over 30 years of competition, it has also helped 32 drivers reach F1, including 2021 participants Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and Nicholas Latifi.

Marcus Armstrong: “I’m very excited to be joining DAMS, it’s been a long time coming as there was a lot of interest in working together last season. Formula 2 is such a competitive championship and with only eight events it’s important to start on the right foot in an experienced team that’s used to winning. DAMS has a massive history, especially in GP2 and F2 – it’s one of, if not the, best to be with. In the short time I’ve worked with the team it’s already clear they bring out the best in people and have the resources to give me exactly what I need. We are aiming for the title. We’ve discussed that it’s not in my interest to finish second and they firmly agreed because they have the exact same targets. By no means is it going to be easy with such fierce competition, but I feel that when I’m in the right environment with a great team I can really do special things.”

Gregory and Olivier Driot, Co-Team Owners: “We are very happy to welcome Marcus to DAMS. We have been following his career and his performance for several years so we are glad to finally join forces for this season. It’s going to be an important year for both of us. Looking at Marcus’ track record, it is obviously one of our main targets to challenge for the titles this year. Marcus drove for us in the 2020 post-season test in Bahrain and he gave some great feedback to the engineers. It was good for him to get to know the team ahead of the 2021 campaign, and everything so far has been positive. This is Marcus’ second year in Formula 2 and he has big goals, as does DAMS. We won the teams’ title in 2019 and we would like to be back at the top. We are really looking forward to starting in Bahrain.”

Image: Dutch Photo Agency