NOVEMBER 11, 2010

F1 teams firm up test line-ups

Red Bull Racing will run 20-year-old reserve driver and Formule Renault 3.5 series runner-up Daniel Ricciardo in the Abu Dhabi young driver tests next week.

The 20-year-old from Perth said: "I can't wait to get another crack. I've been hanging out with the team and drivers all year at the races and it's made my urge to drive the car even stronger, if that's possible. It's a year since I last drove the car at last year's young driver test and I really want to make the most of the two days."

Toro Rosso, meanwhile, will run 20-year-old British International F3 champion Jean-Eric Vergne, who took 13 wins en route to the title with Carlin Motorsport. Vergne drove the Red Bull at the Goodwood Festival.

McLaren has confirmed that Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey will do the first two days in Abu Dhabi to establish a baseline before the teams move onto the new Pirelli rubber for the final days of the test, the Italian company due to provide teams with its medium compound prime tyre and soft compound option for its first full F1 test.

Renault will run Renault 3.5 champion Russian Mikhail Aleshin and reserve driver Jerome D'Ambrosio, while Force India will field 23-year-old Dutchman Yelmer Buurman and 19-year-old Portuguese Antonio Felix da Costa, the top rookie in this year's F3 Euroseries, after a benchmark has been laid down by Paul di Resta.