Vergne can't wait to start with Ferrari: "I never expected it to happen"

Toro Rosso refugee Jean Eric Vergne is racing in Formula E this weekend in Argentina, but his thoughts are on his new role as a development driver for Ferrari, which he starts next week.

"Ferrari is a dream for every driver and, sincerely, I never expected it to happen," he told Gazzetta dello Sport in Buenos Aires on the eve of today's fourth round of the championship.

"It all came together very quickly, Maurizio Arrivabene called me in December and very soon we had a deal. I'd never met him; I've been in the Red Bull orbit so long. I feel like I've come into a big family and I'm really pleased to come to Ferrari."

On the face of it, Vergne is in the pecking order behind Ferrari's new third driver, Esteban Gutierrez. The 24 year old Frenchman is clearly a superior driver, but the Gutierrez announcement was followed soon afterwards by the announcement of a deal with America Movil, the Mexican's long term backer, as a Ferrari sponsor. Vergne's main role will be to drive the simulator, particularly as Kimi Raikkonen is not a fan of simulators and the team has dispensed with Pedro de la Rosa, who did a lot of the development work.

"Being a third these days is all about being at every race without much to do," said Vergne. "So honestly I prefer to do the simulator work. I think I can help the team. I want to give 100% to the team to return to the top."

Vergne joins a long list of drivers who have been spat out by the Red Bull driver development programme. By definition the funnel effect of channelling many drivers in with only two seats at the top team Red Bull Racing available, means that there are many casualties. Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi are two recent examples. Buemi at least has reinvented himself as a sportscar driver and won the FIA Endurance Championship with Toyota this year.

The turning point for Vergne was in September 2013 when Red Bull chose Daniel Ricciaro ahead of the Frenchman for the seat being vacated by Mark Webber. Ricciardo was a revelation last season, winning three races and finishing best of the rest behind the dominant Mercedes drivers. He also wiped the floor with Sebastian Vettel. Vergne matched Ricciardo on the whole, especially in races, but his qualifying pace at that time was not a match for Ricciardo's and so Red Bull went for the Australian's pure pace.

Vergne is not bitter about being dropped. It appeared that he might be given a reprieve when Toro Rosso went for Max Verstappen for 2015 and some voices inside the team questioned whether it might be wise to retain an experienced driver alongside a 17 year rookie. But they went for Carlos Sainz Jr, another young rookie. "For years they have pursued a line of promoting young drivers and they went for that again," said Vergne.

"I'm not disappointed. I know I did my best, gave it everything and for that I have no regrets. Any anyhow, excuse me, I'm at Ferrari now which gives me a great chance for 2016."

Vergne is managed by the wily Julian Jakobi, who in his time has managed Juan Pablo Montoya, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna among many others. Vergne has some powerful supporters behind the scenes in F1. With Raikkonen likely to end his F1 career this season, Jakobi will have advised Vergne that being in-house with three years F1 experience might put him in a good position to replace the Finn.

He also has some old friends within Ferrari, like Sporting Director Massimo Rivola, who used to be at Toro Rosso.

Vergne is also well known by Sebastian Vettel, with whom he worked on the Red Bull simulator before he got the Toro Rosso opportunity. The Frenchman showed well in the closing stages of the 2014 season and left a positive impression as a fast and hard-charging driver. Ferrari spied an opportunity to look at him and time will tell where it leads. It would be difficult for them to present a driver whom Red Bull had rejected as their race driver in 2016 alongside another Red Bull refugee in Vettel, but stranger things have happened and they clearly don't fancy any of the other young up and coming drivers in F1, maybe Bottas, despite his links with Toto Wolff.

Ferrari will launch its new car online on Friday January 30th. It will run for the first time on February 1 in Jerez at the first pre-season test.