It comes after a brief and tumultuous front-line F1 career for Hartley, which saw the Kiwi sensationally called up for Toro Rosso at the tail-end of 2017 – six years after being dropped from Red Bull’s junior programme – only to lose his drive with the team at the end of his first full F1 season in 2018.

Speaking of the signings, Ferrari’s newly-installed Team Principal Mattia Binotto said: “Our team has taken on four undoubtedly talented drivers, who possess innate feeling, with a strong understanding of race cars and tracks. These are exactly the qualities required in the skilful role of driving in a simulator, one of the vital pieces of equipment in the Formula 1 of today.”

It won’t be Hartley’s first experience of test and simulator work, with the New Zealander having previously held similar roles for Toro Rosso, Red Bull and Mercedes, while he also brings with him the experience garnered from his four-year stint with Porsche in the World Endurance Championship, which saw him twice crowned series champion between 2014 and 2017.

Hartley’s new job will see him pounding out laps on the Ferrari’s Maranello-based simulator to test upgrades and set-ups for the team, in order to help the on-track cause of drivers Sebastian Vettel and new arrival Charles Leclerc, as the Scuderia try to prevent Mercedes from claiming sixth straight drivers’ and constructors’ titles in 2019.