Jean-Eric Vergne to make F1 debut in Korea practice
2011 Korean Grand Prix
Jean-Eric Vergne participated in the young drivers' test last year
Toro Rosso will give Jean-Eric Vergne his first run at an F1 race weekend on Friday.
The 21-year-old Frenchman, who finished runner-up in this year’s Formula Renault 3.5 championship, will take over Jaime Alguersuari’s car for the first practice session.
The team also confirmed he will drive in two further practice sessions this year.
He will take Sebastien Buemi’s place in the car at Abu Dhabi. At Interlagos he will drive the car of whichever driver has the least points.
He will not drive in practice for the Indian Grand Prix as the team wish to give maximum practice time to both their regular drivers on the new circuit.
Vergne drove for Toro Rosso in the young drivers’ test session last year.
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Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Duchess (@duchess) said on 13th October 2011, 0:20
This is interesting news. While everyone can conspire about whether Jaime or Seb will be dropped first (or both simultaneously), I wonder how Éric Boullier will interpret/use this given his
maddesire to get a Frenchman back in F1.RumFRESH (@rumfresh) said on 13th October 2011, 2:09
If I were Red Bull, I would use Toro Rosso to find the truly exceptional drivers. The Vettel’s that can pull off wins in a car that shouldn’t be capable, a driver that can consistently impress. In the end these are the kind of drivers you want on your Formula One team, all others should be given a fair amount of time and then sent into a different series. BUE and ALG are both terrific drivers but F1 should be for the absolute best.
TED BELL said on 13th October 2011, 2:48
Again another problem that Formula One needs to change. Time to end the rule against testing during the season. Instead a team has to dilute its regular drivers on track time, thus making them even more ineffective and give seat time to an unknown untested upcomer. The rule isn’t what is best for Formula One and NEEDS ATTENTION. The solution is simple.