After renewing Felipe Massa’s contract till 2012, Ferrari has signed with yet another driver. He is Lance Stroll from Montreal, Canada and he is 11. Of course they are not going to let him driver F1 cars yet, that’d be preposterous! In fact he has signed with Ferrari Driver Academy for a development program to see what this young kart champion is really made of. He is the youngest driver ever to enter the Maranello program.

“We are pleased to welcome Lance to our group,” commented Luca Baldisserri, who runs the Ferrari Driving Academy. “He is very young, but he has already shown in karting that he is exceptionally talented. We will follow him step by step in his forthcoming events in North America and he will soon also take part in our courses at Maranello.”

Although very young, Lance’s karting curriculum is already impressive enough to have attracted the attention of the Ferrari Driving Academy: already on his record are two wins in the Canadian national championship in the Rotax Mini Max category as well as Coupe de Montreal and Coupe du Quebec Micro Max Championship in 2008 and both Mini Max Championships in 2009. Last year, Lance finished sixth in the World Finals at Lonato in the Mini Roc category and second in the Rotax Micro Max Florida Winter Tour, a series he won this year in Mini Max along with the championships for the Tag/Cadet Florida Winter Tour. It is no surprise therefore that Lance was nominated by the Fedération Sport Automobile du Quebec as Rookie of the Year in 2008 and Driver of the Year the following year.