Ricciardo to make F1 debut for HRT at Silverstone

2011 British Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Abu Dhabi, 2010

Red Bull reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo will make his F1 debut at the British Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old, who has driven in the first practice session of every race this year for Toro Rosso, described the news as a “dream come true”.

The Australian driver will take Narain Karthikeyan’s place at the team as of next weekend.

Ricciardo said: “It’s a dream come true for me – for the first time on an F1 starting grid! I had to pinch myself a couple of times to be sure that it’s real.

“I’m excited and can hardly wait to drive at Silverstone. It’s a new challenge, a new experience, a new team, but I’m ready and will give of my best in any event.”

HRT chairman Jose Ramon Carabante said: “This agreement is a reward for all the hard work Hispania Racing has shown since we started in Formula 1 last year.

“We’re proud that the Formula 1 world champion team has trusted us in their effort of developing their drivers. Let’s hope that this is just the start of a fruitful relationship.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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171 comments on “Ricciardo to make F1 debut for HRT at Silverstone”

  1. I cannot tell if this is a good or bad thing, I just hope for his sake he gets into a better car (Toro Rosso) sooner rather than later.

    1. well he can’t get a much worse car really.

      Good luck to him.

    2. I’d say Buemi is delighted :).

      He should be driving a Red Bull next year, he would pose a bigger chalenge to Vettel than Webber… just saying….

      1. He hasn’t been proving a big challenger in Formula Renault.

    3. Seems like a poisoned chalice to me. It’s good he’s got an F1 drive but I think the team might hinder his career if he’s not careful.

    4. this is the worst thing he could have done. career mistake, big time.

      1. I second that. Last year FOUR drivers drove the HRT’s – and amazingly – NONE of them have drives for this year! No driver will look good at the back of the grid.

        1. May not be choice.

          Might be either

          1) HRT called and want you in the seat. We said yes, well done kid you got a seat in F1

          OR

          2) You wont get a seat until atleast next year as Alguarsuarie and Buemi are too similiar for now. If you get a shot elsewhere take it.

          NOT the worst move. He is ON LOAN not gone. i.e. He isn’t contracted to HRT. if HRT fire him for money or whatever, he goes back to Red Bull program where he shows that he is still as fast or faster than he was.

          Vettel went on loan to Sauber. Did a whole lot of test days in 2006. In 2007 after his debut race, they took him back and chucked him in a race seat at STR

        2. But he is part of Red Bull and he is doing so just to get experience, not to win races. Red Bull won’t drop him when he finishes 23rd every time.

          1. Exactly. As a rookie, nothing will be expected, and on the off chance he can beat Liuzzi, well, that can only be good for his career.

            Driving for HRT isn’t a bad thing when everyone realizes it’s not the drivers fault.

            Red Bull has made the right move, it means when he does finally make the Red Bull switch, he will already be used to driving an F1 weekend.

        3. You’ve really got to look at this in context, Carabante has clearly stated that this is part of Ricciardo’s grooming process for RedBull.
          Therefore it’s not an attempt as other drivers have done, to start their F1 career in a developing team.
          It’s more like a dress rehearsal in preparing for an F1 weekend and can only be a good thing.
          It’s clever by HRT too, I know I’ll be watching their car in Quali anyway to see if he beats his teammate..

          1. So HRT is somehow a testing team. Their purpose is not to compete but to give rookies an opportunity to get their grips on an F1 car. I wonder which team will buy Liuzzi’s seat.

        4. not only is he racing an HRT but he’s joining them mid-season. look what happened to Grojean! or badoer for that matter

          1. Or… Kobayashi?

          2. But they weren’t put into their teams to gain experience were they? They were meant to perform.

          3. or Alguarsuari..

        5. No driver will look good at the back of the grid.

          Fernando Alonso?

      2. Yeah, drivers only lose their reputation driving that piece of sh…it. How much until Ricciardo will be replaced too? HRT are only looking for money, once the funds are gone so is the driver.

    5. Thats 2 aussies in F1! awesome, awesome, news.

      1. Not for long. This whole episode is RBR trying hard to decide how their drivers should be shuffled to find a suitable replacement for Webber.

    6. Good. He gets race experience and he’s still under contract with the best team in F1.

  2. This will speed up the field a lot by taking out the slowes driver in the field. And it shows how good a job Alguersuari did in the last 2 races.

    So does anyone fancy a go at putting the red bull cans in a cool spot or putting them there were we can be? Any livery artists for the job?

    1. Good point! The livery will be nice!

    2. This is what I came up with in some minutes. Maybe I’ll add some details now.

        1. It really brightens up the car. But I would leave a bit of the checkered flag motiv on the rear wing and maybe try to get the racing numbers on the airbox in white?

          1. I realized in Valencia tha the checkered flag is on their car only to indicate that they do in fact usually see the checkered flag, and since it’s their only real accomplishment, they like to gloat a bit…

        2. Lol, I only now noticed the nosecone. very nice detail there!

        3. Wow, clap-clap, decent job!

          I agree with Bas: that nose is looking mighty fine.
          But I’m really hoping I don’t have to look at that bull logo on any more cars. ‘Tis the season, alas… Literally, 2011 is the Red Bull season so far. Sigh.

        4. fullthrottle
          1st July 2011, 1:46

          Did you know “cola” is tail in spanish? I like your revised livery.

          1. Ha, nice to have the red bulls tale on the tail of the tail of the field!

        5. how very sad.

        6. I like it Fixy, that works!

        7. I added some details and changed some others to obtain this.

          1. This last one is absolutely gorgeous, splendidly blends the current livery with a Red Bull theme!

        8. Where presumably you it says ‘Speed’ it looks like a ‘Sperm’

      1. It’s ‘You’re Loco’, as opposed to ‘Your Loco’. Love the image :)

        1. If you’re referring to the front wing end plates it is in fact “Your Logo Here”, it’s what HRT already have there. See this image – http://www.grandprix.com/jpeg/misc/hrt2011images1-lg.jpg

          1. Somewhat of a misunderstanding there. I saw the image and thought the word ‘logo’ was changed to ‘your loco’ (as in “You’re crazy”). Hence “You’re Loco”.

            Cool image regardless.

    3. I doubt it, it would be the worse thing Redbull could do, who wants to be associated with a team like that?

  3. So it’s true! Time will tell, but I don’t think it’s a good decision.

    Let’s hope that this is just the start of a fruitful relationship.

    No it’s not.

    1. Wait, does this mean RBR now have a testing team (STR) and half another team (HRT)?

      1. it appears they have a testing team for their testing team

        1. Another Photo-shop is needed here, cause I heard you like reserves, so I put a reserve in your reserve.

        2. Gnahahaha… :)

  4. I am really glad to here Ricciardo is making his debut, he seems like a great guy who is a excellent racing driver. Shame he has to start in an HRT though, but I bet by 2012 he’ll be in a Toro Rosso (when they decide whether to get rid of Buemi or Alguersuari). Karthikeyan sure didn’t last long!

    1. Apparently HRT doesn’t like drivers from South Asia for more than 6 months at a time… of course maybe that has nothing to do with it, but they are making a habit of dropping drivers at around mid-year. Coincidence?

      1. Second Indian left without seat by half-season.

        1. No Indian driver at the Indian Grand Prix?

          1. Who knows, if Narain can bring even further money for his home race maybe HRT will let him race in place of Ricciardo, or in place of Liuzzi as he has less fundings and if he performs worse than Daniel.

          2. I understood he is almost certain to be in the car for India.

          3. OEL, ever since the first leaks of Ricciardo’s seat were put online, it has been said that Go-Karth will be put in the car just for the Indian GP…

          4. I somehow doubt that Trulli will be racing at the Indian Grand Prix.

  5. If he is as good as he is hyped up to be, he could be up to 1.5s faster than Karthikeyan in qualifying – so I personally think that it’s a good move by HRT. Fruitful relationship??? No way!!

    1. There are no fruitful relationships to be had at HRT. Maybe the new restructuring will breath new life into the team though and give them some stability. I doubt it though.

      1. There are no fruitful relationships to be had at HRT.

        There are, however, fruity relationships to be had given that the team is basically held together with toothpicks and chewing gum wrappers and Colin Kolles apparently decides the team’s driver line-up with a chocolate wheel.

        1. Oh no, Colin Kolles has a very scientific method of deciding when to get rid of drivers: Cavities.

          Once a driver reaches a certain number of cavities, they are gone. Proper dental hygiene is the key to Formula 1 success.

          1. RCODW (Randomest comment Of The Week) :)

          2. Michael: AFOTW (Acronym Fail of the Week) :P

  6. It will be interesting to see how he fares against Liuzzi. If the orthodoxy about those two drivers is correct, he should smash him. Probably won’t be so simple, however…

    1. Don’t forget, that on his day, Liuzzi could beat Sutil in qualifying, infact he managed to qualify 6th at the 2010 canadian gp. Oh, and Kubica named him as 1 of 2 potential replacements (the other one was heidfeld)

      1. Well Kubica and Liuzzi are good friends. As for Nick I think they have a somewhat sour relationship especially when Nick was the favored driver at BMW and they have had multiple collisions in the past. I personally dont think Kubica would choose Liuzzi based on speed.

      2. Don’t forget, that on his day, Liuzzi could beat Sutil in qualifying

        The problem with Liuzzi was it was never really his day often enough and as Sutil’s showing this year he isn’t always that quick either.

      3. On all other days however Sutil was often a second or so faster.

      4. Liuzzi should theoretically be much better than Sutil. He won the F3000 (which became GP2 and was won by Hamilton two years later) whilst Sutil has no particularly interesting results.

        1. Liuzzi is one of those drivers like Jan Magnussen who should have been much better than he has become. He was also a world karting champion. Its interesting how that happens to some drivers with a good pedigree and then other drivers like Kobayashi who had a less than spectacular GP2 career flourish when they hit F1.

          1. You’re right and it’s sad these things happen. The drivers that are seen as future champions then become below-average. Like Pantano, who was a karting champion (Nico Rosberg grew with a poster of him in his room) and then competed in F1 in 2004 before being substituted mid-way.

  7. Anybody knows what’s the spanish phrase for “Red Bull”? We might consider renaming HRT soon.

    1. Toro Rojo. No joke.

      1. Damn, you beat me to it.

        1. I’m just too quick… What can I say? :)

          1. Trix, this is off-topic, but I’ve replied to you here. (Just notifying you because it’s getting to be an old article now! :P)

  8. What about the Tata sponsorship? Thought that was tied to Karthikeyan.

    1. I was just about to write the very same thing. Have Red Bull bought TATA out? Will their very small logos chance into another ‘this could be you’ sticker?

      I cant see it becoming a fruitful relationship. Red Bull already have a B team, surely they can cope without a C team!? Thank goodness Alguersuari got those 8 points, Im glad both STR drivers have kept their drives.

    2. Karthikeyan has not been fired. He’s still with HRT, meaning he’s all but assured of racing in India.

      1. He’s assured of racing at the Japanese Grand Prix, since Ricciardo is still racing in Formula Renault 3.5 and the last race of that series takes place on the same day as the Japanese Grand Prix.

        1. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
          1st July 2011, 6:05

          I some how doubt that Ricciardo will have two full time drives on the go at the same time especially as one is F1.

          1. http://www.worldseriesbyrenault.fr/en/tv_news/news/Pages/DanielRicciardotakesthenextstep.aspx

            “Besides his commitment to Formula 1 the Australian will also continue to fight for victories and points in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as a Red Bull Junior.”

          2. Why not? Alguersuari did in 2009.

          3. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
            1st July 2011, 12:47

            I stand corrected

    3. The Last Pope
      1st July 2011, 2:26

      TATA wasn’t bothered about it when Narain was at Williams as reserve driver and the nose of the car sported a big TATA logo.

  9. Ricciardo should’ve said no.

    1. I don’t think Red Bull would have reacted well to that. They don’t give their drivers much freedom of decision. I can remember reading an interview with Brendan Hartley after he was dropped in which he said that Red Bull wouldn’t even let him cut his hair because it was part of his image!

      1. And I thought McLaren’s policies are freaky.

  10. Woop-woop for Daniel. No tears lost on seeing Karthikeyan go.

    However, leaving the RB7 for the slow-mo Hispania car is literally going from one extreme to another. I predict there will be some proper Australian flavoured cursing in the HRT garage over the next few races.

    1. Agree here, and It’s a no lose situation for him. If he’s no quicker it’s the car and if he is quicker more woops for him.

  11. I wonder if this was a deal for technology or money?

    1. Red Bull could be looking into properly testing Ricciardo’s F1 race skills as they appear to be playing musical chairs whether Webber should stay with them for another year or not…

      1. he aint gonna show many race skills in an HRT

        1. Actually he can show what all promising drivers show, teamate beating ability. If he beats Luizzi he’s a good chance of mooving up.

          This is an excellent move for all parties cept karthakayen. Redbull get to see whether the supposedly most promising driver in their YD programme has it or not, HRT get money for taking on a new driver, and more money when he leaves and they sell his seat again. Yay all!

      2. Red Bull could be looking into properly testing Ricciardo’s F1 race skills

        According to Autosport, that’s exactly what they’re doing. After all, before he joined Force India, Liuzzi raced for Red Bull and Toro Rosso. He was once a part of the Red Bull driver development scheme. It’s probably no accident that Ricciardo is racing alongside him specifically.

        I can’t imagine that the news he is being treated as the yardstick for Red Bull’s young drivers went down like clotted cream for Liuzzi.

        1. Well, being important to Red Bull is something!
          But I don’t think Liuzzi has a good relationship with Red Bull since they dropped him.

          1. Maybe if Liuzzi outperforms Ricciardo he can get the Red Bull drive!

  12. Considering tomorrow is Daniel’s birthday, this is a nice surprise for him!

  13. Is this really a wise move for Ricciardo? theres getting into F1 then theres That bucket on wheels. Cant see how it will do him any good, Beating Liuzzi wont prove anything

    1. First he has to beat Liuzzi, then we will see if he really is a good driver. People are already talking about him replacing Webber next year when he hasn’t even raced in one single F1 race…
      Of course, he put in some great testing times during the last two seasons, but let’s not forget that he was driving the best car in the field.
      This seat is definetely a chance to get some F1 experience without too much pressure. So far he has only driven Formula Fenault cars…

  14. V.P.Oliver (@)
    30th June 2011, 21:10

    Just a supposition: RED BULL is focusing AMERICA! They quit fm Nascar, sold STR to the Aabar group and decided to Sponsor US GP in Texas. That might explain why Marko has negotiated with HRT now to get a drive for Ricciardo. Perhaps with part of the money received from Aabar, they could turn the HRT as their Junior team by 2012 onwards=> Tata HRT with drivers Alguersuari and Ricciardo.

    1. Why would they get HRT (always last) and drop STR (score points)? At HRT if you’re a good driver you can finish 22nd. At Toro Rosso you can prove yourself competing in the midfield and scoring points against tougher opponents.

      1. STR was Minardi, so RB have experience turning the last place team into a point scoring team. I have no idea if VP Oliver is right but a reason RB would sell STR and buy into HRT is very simple, buy low sell high.

        Alonso and Webber both got their first F1 starts with Minardi. A laggard team bringing in young drivers to see what they are made of is not a bad thing. Points and finishing place mean nothing, the team can see all the telemetry of each driver and will know who has the talent to move up to stronger teams.

  15. If this doesn’t interefere with his Red Bull programme then it’s great news and it gives him some more experience. It’ll be interesting to see how he fairs against Liuzzi and I know the Italian never really showed off the amazing karting abilities that Joe Saward so adamantly believes in but he is very experienced so he’ll be a tough competitor but a good team mate to learn from.

    1. I think Liuzzi will be a great team mate for him. Admittedly I don’t rate Liuzzi particularly highly but the guy has a wealth of experience. He made a similar drop from Force India to HRT so no doubt that experience will benefit Ricciardo.

    2. Liuzzi once was part of Red Bull’s young driver academy. He was looking very strong before entering 4 F1 races in 2005. In 2010 he compared to Sutil like Hulkenberg did to Barrichello, and even though he obviously had more experience, he wasn’t rated as highly as the young German.

      1. Don’t know about that. Luizzi had one properly good weekend all year. Hulkenburg showed increasingly good flashes as the year went on, and was challenging a driver of pretty high calibre. Barrichello’s challenged for titles and won 11 grand prix, getting close to Sutil isn’t really the same.

        1. I believe so, but strangely Sutil is rated highly and Barrichello is older and many say he should retire (not me, mind).

    3. That is more or less what I thought when reading this too.

      Sure, the HRT won’t make him soar through the field, but we have seen (ALG, for example) that some racing experience helps a lot.

      If he can learn from Liuzzi, and from just being around, letting frontrunners pass, stay out of accidents and bring the car home, that’s valuable time in a car.

      The fact that the HRT is not a great car, without a large amount of updates, also helps to give him experience with that, as opposed to occasionally driving the STR or RBR cars which must be a very different experience.

  16. Personally I’ve never understood all the hype about him – everything seemed to be based on some meaningless test times in the young driver tests – but good luck to him all the same, I’d like to be proved wrong.

    1. Hence why Red Bull are handing him over to HRT for half a season. :D
      Them no stupid.

  17. I personally think this is confirmation Mark Webber will leave Red Bull at the end of the season and they want to replace him with Ricciardo in 2012, so they need him to get some Race experience this year and dropping him into HRT is the only real option at this time.

    1. I personally think this is confirmation Mark Webber will leave Red Bull at the end of the season and they want to replace him with Ricciardo in 2012

      No. Not even close, and for two reasons: one, Webber is negotiating another year with red Bull. And two, Ricciardo’s placement is a test-run to see how he’ll do in race conditions so that he might take a race seat with Toro Rosso in 2012. Red Bull are a championship-winning team. They can’t afford to take an untried and untested driver if Webber or Vettel should leave – and Ricciardo’s half-season won’t really count.

      Red Bull are not obligated to take a driver from their development scheme. They can – and will – take the best driver available.

      1. Wrong, Webber will not be at Red Bull next year, you can put money on it. Lewis is not an option (ask vettel why) and Massa is staying with Ferrari. Ricciardo will be in a Red Bull come 2012.

        1. Webber will not be at Red Bull next year, you can put money on it

          Where’s your proof?

          Even if Webber leaves, there are other people up for a new contract who will have more experience – Rosberg, Kobayashi, Perez, Glock, and of course, Alguersuari and Buemi. Why would Red Bull pass all of them over for Ricciardo? More to the point, why would they have decided this before Ricciardo even contested a Grand Prix? If Ricciardo does a Romain Grosjean or Nelson Piquet Jnr., they’re going to look really silly.

  18. I just pray that he won’t end up like Romain Grosjean when he was drafted in to replace Neson Piquet jr in 2009, remember?

    1. At least daniel has had proper recent time in a modern F1 car. Grosjean was really thrown into the deep end without any real recent F1 driving (other than straight line tests i believe). So I think Ricciardo will be a bit better prepared. But, only time will tell i suppose. I wish him all the best. It’s just wonderful to have 2 Australians on the grid, albeit, opposite ends of it…

    2. Racing Against Alonso would not have done his confidence any favors either.

      1. Has a driver ever driven the fastest and slowest F1 car on the grid within a 12 month period?

        1. The Ferrari drivers at Spa ’09 – Raikkönnen fastest, Badoer slowest :D

        2. His name is Ricciardo – Red Bull at the young driver test in Abu Dhabi, now with HRT. ( I think you might know that, asking if anyone else has ever done it. If so, sorry.)

  19. Well I bet Alguersuari is secretly a relieved man today. Judging by the last two races he’s had nothing to worry about though.

    1. I doubt a driver at Toro Rosso can ever feel truly relieved.

      If anything, Alguersuari and Buemi should be more worried. If Ricciardo has a run of good races (finishing ahead of Liuzzi and the occasional Virgin driver) and one of them has a run of bad races, I think Ricciardo will be changing teams.

      I figure they will decide sometime around the Italian or Singapore Grand Prix whether or not to bring Ricciardo in for the final races, especially if they are at risk of falling down to 8th or even 9th in the Constructors.

  20. “This agreement is a reward for all the hard work Hispania Racing has shown since we started in Formula 1 last year.

    After using a Ron-Speak to English dictionary it came out as:

    “We finally found somebody other than Narain!

    1. small edit

      “We finally found somebody other than Narain bringing serious cash!

  21. I see very little downside to this.

    Ricciardo (who was bound to enter the sport at some point before the start of 2012) joins the grid but not at the expense of an STR driver who has done nothing to get the boot mid-season, and it might even alleviate some anxiety either have with Ricciardo, especially given STR’s history with klingon promotions (Speed, Bourdais) midseason.
    Karthikeyan still runs the Indian GP because of his contract.
    HRT gets paid.

    1. I see very little downside to this.

      Except we may have to put up with another two extra Red Bull tattooed cars. They’re going to be all over the track if they manage to squeeze another giant logo on the Hispania. Front, middle and back.

      1. Oh shoot, I messed up my quote bar.

      2. There is that. Must have been Red Bull being jealous of seeing the Lotus name, and increasingly big, a logo, on 4 cars to compete with their logo!

        The klingon promotions is an apt description. It seems maybe this time they found a better way to see what a new guy is worth.

        I do by the way think that Karthikeyan has done better than expected, although admittedly that is partly because expectations were rather low (haven’t even heard EJ say anything positive about him, at all). Sure, he hasn’t been very fast very often, lagging Liuzzi in quali, but at least he is consistent and brings the car home when it doesn’t break – arguably, the most important thing for HRT.

  22. Didn’t Narain hold the Red Bulls up quite badly at Valencia a couple of times? Maybe they’ve just paid to have some one who’ll move out the way quickly!

    It does feel a bit strange to me to have 5 drivers on the grid with ultimately the same paymaster.

  23. So, how long before HRT becomes “Bœuf Rouge” and the feeder team for Toro Rosso, in turn the feeder team for Red Bull.

    1. Gaston (@golarrazabal)
      1st July 2011, 2:00

      This is Xzibit’s take on Red Bull’s driver training program:

      1. Gaston (@golarrazabal)
        1st July 2011, 2:01

        Well, that didn’t quite work, did it?

  24. Is it unusual for Carabantes to put a statement out rather than Kolles?

    ARe we seeing something start to happen here?

    1. According to Autosport, Kolles is set to step aside to allow the Carabantes family to gain more control over the HRT operation.
      There are also rumours that Kolles is about to switch to Williams!

  25. First time since the 1977 Dutch GP at Zandvoort two Aussies will enter a Grand Prix. As Vern Schuppan failed to qualify, it’s the first time since the 1977 Belgian GP at Zolder (Jones & Perkins) that two Aussies will start. (When Ricciardo qualifies!)

    Go STRAYA!

    1. When Ricciardo qualifies!

      If Ricciardo qualifies!

    2. First time since the 1977 Dutch GP at Zandvoort two Aussies will enter a Grand Prix. As Vern Schuppan failed to qualify, it’s the first time since the 1977 Belgian GP at Zolder (Jones & Perkins) that two Aussies will start.

      Actually, Jones and Schuppan both took part in the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix, two weeks before Zandvoort.

      1. At the newly named Red Bull Ring? Red Bull seem all over this…

        Also worth noting that the more experienced F1 driver of the Australian pair in Alan Jones got his first win that day. Schuppan was the second last of the classified finishers. If history were to repeat itself, it would probably be the best result that Australians could hope for.

  26. Torro Rosso on the chopping bloc again. No more NASCAR no more TR. In fear that someone might have worked out that RB gives society violent assaults at pubs and nothing better.

    1. That’s probably the vodka.

      I don’t think this really has much to do with the rumours about STR being cut off the Red Bull programme.

    2. John Cousins
      1st July 2011, 13:36

      Ummm apart from turning a craphouse Jaguar team into world championship winning team and allowing Adrian Newey to produce another beautiful car.

  27. It’s hardly surprising that yet another new up and coming driver is an all-smiles ‘fun-loving crazy guy’, in the Vettel mould.

    Clearly his career-path will be one steeped in an easy career upward trajectory towards a wining car before long.

    The day that an inward looking, deeply fast and Senna/Alonso-like talent is allowed onto the gird again, will be a long time coming.

    Another tragic day in F1’s fast-becoming nadir season.

    1. I have a feeling Alonso will be allowed on the grid for the British race.

  28. and now I officially have a family member who is an F1 driver

    congratulations Daniel!

    1. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
      1st July 2011, 6:10

      Lucky so and so, try and get some tickets so the rest of us can at least look on jealously at some close up photos!

  29. This is a good move for Ricciardo. Whilst HRT is a slow team, the new partnership with Red Bull will mean actual race experience for him, and since he is on loan to HRT this is the only aim for RBR – he is not contracted to HRT permanently – he is being sent there to do his dues and get experience in an F1 race then return to Toro Rosso in 2012/13 to take a seat in their car I think.

    So glad another Aussie in on the grid!

  30. Great news.I would like to see him in a better car but as least he will have full 3 days of leaning which he could use in some better team.I just hope the car stays reliable.
    Hope Hulkenberg get a similar opportunity with some team this season.

  31. MVEilenstein
    1st July 2011, 6:41

    congradulations Daniel, well earnt and well deseserved.

    You’re going to criticize an extra word stuck in a sentence, with spelling like this?

    1. But firefox (and chrome) do …

    2. LOL!!!

  32. Free pass for Red Bull and moving chicanes for McLaren & Ferrari?

    1. HRT only gets on camera during a race when their drivers suddenly lose the ability to see blue; I don’t see them changing that policy, even for Red Bull.

  33. Is he permanant or one off?

    1. Permanent. He’ll stay at Hispania for the rest of the season with the exception of the Indian Grand Prix when Karthikeyan will return.

  34. This is the first time since 1977 when there are two Australian drivers on the grid.

    I think it’s good news. Imho, Karthikeyan doesn’t really belong to F1 and Ricciardo deserves the chance. I hope that this will help HRT to establish themselves in F1, too.

    And it will be very interesting to see how Ricciardo performs against Liuzzi and vice versa.

  35. So, Red Bull are dominating at the front of the grid with Red Bull Racing. And they’re trying to dominate in the middle of the grid with Scuderia Toro Rosso. Now they’re planning on dominating the back of the grid by proxy through Hispania.

    Are we sure Red Bull are based at Milton Keynes and not in a hollowed-out volcano somewhere?

  36. Let’s hope he outqualifies Liuzzi sometime this year!

    Also I’m sure he’ll be much quicker than Karthikeyan.

    But why do Hispania always replace drivers by Silverstone?

    2010: Senna for Yamamoto (Chandhok replaced by Yamamoto for other races)

    2011: Karthikeyan for Ricciardo (except India)

    1. John Cousins
      1st July 2011, 13:41

      $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  37. Rubbish Dave
    1st July 2011, 8:24

    Mistake.

    He won’t get race experience, just experience of constantly getting out of the way of cars lapping him.

    And he’ll learn to dislike the colour blue

    1. He won’t get race experience, just experience of constantly getting out of the way of cars lapping him.

      But he won’t really be graded against the other drivers – just Liuzzi. Tonio Liuzzi is just one of a handful of drivers to graduate from the Red Bull young driver program and maintain a presence in the sport. Sebastian Vettel is the only other driver who has really kept his head above water – Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi are both under pressure to perform, while the likes of Scott Speed and Christian Klien have faded into obscurity (drivers like Sebastien Bourdais were never a part of the program). Liuzzi is the yardstick that Ricciardo is being judged against. In order to secure a future in the sport with a compeititve team, Ricciardo only needs to race him. Even if that means getting out of the way of everyone else.

  38. Wow. I’m watching the 6pm news down here, and Ricciardo hasn’t been mentioned at all. It’s significant because Silverstone will be the first time since the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix that two Australians have raced when Alan Jones and Vern Schuppan took part (Jones and Schuppan were also at the next round, Zandvoort, but Schuppan failed to qualify).

    Funnily enough, Mark Webber’s press event with QANTAS the other day rated a mention …

    1. Just wait until the race, its going to be a nightmare, thank god TV remotes have a mute button!

      1. True, but considering this was the news on Channel Ten and Ten broadcast the races, you’d think they’d pounce on it straight away. After all, the announcement was made at about 5pm GMT, which equals about 3am AEST, so it’s not like they could have run it last night.

        1. Yeah I get that, I am surprised as well, but I dont really mind, the less coverage he gets the better it is for me.

  39. To ve honest, I hope this ends his career, dont like him and wont ever.

    1. To be honest*

  40. Who is he what has he done

    1. If you click on his name in the first paragraph you’ll see it takes you to a biography of him.

  41. Who is he????????????

  42. I’m thinking that Buemi and Algersuari should be a bit worried about this. Getting Ricciardo some race experience is surely making it even more likely that they’ll sub him into STR if one of the other two doesn’t perform.

  43. i don’t know what to make of this. May be he took this chance to prove something but in a car which won’t response, he might make it difficult for himself in F1 arena. Poor Narain he is getting old for this thrill,he has never shown the his worth this season so i guess he needs to take a break and try again with full throttle.

  44. Mother Chut HRT Sala fill bad for Narain re, y did he came back ?????

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