Raffaele Marciello has blamed Scuderia Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene for his exit from the Italian marque’s young driver academy.
Marciello enjoyed Ferrari backing for much of his junior career, and was supported en route to his emphatic victory in the 2013 FIA Formula 3 European Championship.
The Italian youngster stepped up to GP2 the following year with high hopes, but struggled to make much of an impact in his first two seasons, claiming just a single victory at Spa in 2014.
Marciello left the Ferrari Driver Academy at the end of 2015 but will remain in GP2 for 2016 with Russian Time.
Speaking to Italian publication Autosprint, Marciello pointed the finger at Arrivabene for his exit from Ferrari and claimed that the team boss thought he wasn’t good enough for F1.
“I never had a good relationship with Maurizio Arrivabene,” Marciello said. “He did not think I was good enough for F1, so it ended. But you can’t please everyone.”
The Italian elaborated in a further interview with motorsport.com, saying: “He decided that I was not the right person to be in Ferrari.
“I think he just didn’t like me. It’s normal, you can like and not like some people. So he didn’t want to let me be in Ferrari. And he pushed me out.”