Ricciardo to drive in practice for Toro Rosso in 2011
2011 F1 season
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Abu Dhabi, 2010
Daniel Ricciardo will be Toro Rosso’s third and reserve driver in 2011.
The Australian will also drive in Friday morning practice sessions at all the races.
Ricciardo set the fastest time in both of the young drivers’ test for Red Bull at Yas Marina last week. He also drove for them in last year’s rookies’ test.
He was runner-up in Formula Renault 3.5 this year and won the British Formula Three championship in 2009.
Ricciardo said:
I am really excited at the prospect of driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso in the Free Practice 1 sessions at the Grands Prix next year, so I have to say thanks to Red Bull for this great opportunity.
My main priority for 2011 is to win the Formula Renault 3.5 championship, but my ultimate aim is to be a full-time Formula 1 driver and this new role has to be the best step towards achieving that ambition.
Daniel Ricciardo
Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost said Ricciardo’s promotion will keep Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari on their toes:
When our team was created, its stated aim was to bring on young drivers from the Red Bull Junior Programme, so Daniel’s appointment as our third driver is an obvious one.
Although Daniel has done some F1 testing already, running on Fridays at the Grands Prix will give him a valuable insight into the additional pressures of doing it for real during a race weekend. I am also sure that having a hungry youngster on the books will keep our current driver pairing nice and sharp!
Franz Tost
Read more: 2011 F1 drivers and teams
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Impreza_600BHP said on 27th November 2010, 5:12
Ricciardo deserves a shot in f1 no doubt, hes has an agressive style, takes no prisinors and clearly has talent to spare, in every race i have seen him he has blown away the competition, forget Buemi watch out, i think Vettel better watch out for this guy when he is his team mate.
Pink peril said on 28th November 2010, 0:05
Now that I look forward to, might be a bit of salve to this years cr@ppt result
Osvaldas31 said on 27th November 2010, 10:29
I think, that it would be a great idea to make first practice sessions or 1 hour additional sessions during a grand prix weekend only for young drivers, because nowadays the lack of testing in F1 makes very hard to promote young drivers to F1.
Stuart said on 27th November 2010, 15:00
FIA Sporting regulations.
19) CHANGES OF DRIVER
19.1 a) During a season each team will be permitted to use four drivers. Changes may be made at any time before the start of the qualifying practice session provided any change proposed after 16.00 on the day of scrutineering receives the consent of the stewards.
Additional changes for reasons of force majeure will be considered separately
Any new driver may score points in the Championship.
b) In addition to the above each team will be permitted to run additional drivers during P1 and P2 provided :
- the stewards are informed which cars and drivers each team intends to use in each session before the end of initial scrutineering, changes after this time may only be made with the consent of the stewards ;- no more than two drivers are used in any one session ;
- they carry the race number of the nominated driver they replace ;
- Uthey use the engine and tyres which are allocated to the nominated driverU ;
- they are in possession of a Super Licence.
c) If one of the team’s nominated drivers is unable to drive at some stage after the end of initial scrutineering, and the stewards consent to a change of driver, the replacement driver must use the engine, gearbox and tyres which were allocated to the original driver (see Articles 25.3 and 28.4).
kowalsky said on 27th November 2010, 15:54
that’s what we need. New blood. If they perform, they stay, otherwise bye, bye.
Are you listening trulli and the likes.?
pod said on 28th November 2010, 12:15
Ricciardo is the next big thing……he now has to see how he goes smashing around and keeping out of the big guns way without knocking his car and other cars around.
tasimana said on 29th November 2010, 8:58
Good to see another Aussie to fly the flag in F1. Makes sense to ease him into it. He would need at least half a season and perform well to be contemplated for the number 2 seat at Red Bull. If Webber wins WDC next year or competes for championship they may well offer him one more year while Ricciardo does a full year for Toro Rosso. Redbull will want to retain constructors championship and won’t risk an inexperienced driver.
rubin said on 29th November 2010, 9:03
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest we may see the young guy get the honours at his almost home run in Melbourne in 2011.
Controversial and not likely, but still a possibility!.