Red Bull confirm Da Costa and Frijns for test

2012 F1 testing

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Red Bull will run Robin Frijns and Antonio Felix da Costa in the Young Drivers’ Test at Abu Dhabi.

Da Costa is part of Red Bull’s young driver programme and will spend the first two days of the test at the wheel of the RB8.

He finished third in GP3 this year. Red Bull also placed Da Costa in Formula Renault 3.5 from round six of the championship. He ended the season fourth overall, scoring four wins and one second place in the final five rounds.

Frijns clinched the Formula Renault 3.5 title yesterday, becoming the first rookie driver to do so in seven years. He will drive the car for one day as part of his prize.

Sauber have previously announced Frijns will also drive for them in one day of the test.

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Image © GP3/Daniel Kalisz

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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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37 comments on “Red Bull confirm Da Costa and Frijns for test”

  1. Heh, he’s already training to replace Webber in as many ways as possible :p

    1. @Ral – I see what you did there. :P

    2. My thoughts exactly.

  2. Great news for AFC but also totally expected. It will be interesting to see that small “battle” between him and Frinjs.
    The portuguese will do the first two days and the dutch the last one?

    1. The article says Frijns gets 1 day of testing in the RB6.

  3. A test for Red Bull and Sauber for Frijns. The man is going to be busy! Doesn’t he also get a test with Lotus as well, as part of his prize for winning the title?

    1. No, Renault changed from having Lotus as their factory team who honoured these rewards to Red Bull.

  4. At least red bull and most of the other teams actually use young drivers for the test unlike Mclaren.

    1. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
      22nd October 2012, 13:13

      McLaren will be running Kevin Magnussen, if I remember correctly.

      1. And Olivery Turvey is only 25…he’s hardly ancient.

        1. He could have already been two-time wold champion.

          1. Or he could have already been dumped by Toro Rosso. ;)

      2. Umm ok then, I thought they were running Gary Paffet again.

  5. I’m sure Ricciardo will be looking over his shoulder here. I’d say JEV will be safe at Toro Rosso next year, but if there’s scope to place a driver, I’m sure Dr Marko will happily shaft a driver for his “development” program.

    1. Why would Ricciardo be more under threat when he has clearly out-classed Vergne this year?

      1. I think the rookie in the team has had some impressive drives this year and there’s very little to choose between the two STR drivers.

    2. Ricciardo has been the faster driver this year, and is the only one of the driver pairing that can qualify well enough. Vergne has been good for the car he was given, but I haven’t been impressed by anything he’s done this season; I have been with Ricciardo.

    3. I would say that Vergne would be under more pressure than Ricciardo

  6. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
    22nd October 2012, 13:18

    I can see da Costa at Toro Rosso in the near future, and probably a promotion to RBR after that. I don’t really follow WSR, but I’ve had a look at his results, and they seem mighty impressive – 4 wins and a podium in 5 races of a spec series. What are the odds of a Ricciardo – da Costa driver pairing at Red Bull for 2014/2015?

  7. So AFC gets the first two days of testing having the advantage of spending more time driving but Frinjs tests in the last day which gives him some advantage has the track continually evolves.
    Looking forward to this test.
    A pity that more teams aren´t involved, hope next year a consensus is reached.

  8. Bring on the photoshops.

    1. Oh goodness, it’ll be the Olympic Divers thing again ._.

  9. Great to see Da Costa and Frijns debut for Redbull. Best drivers this season in WSR.
    Lets see how good Da Costa really is. Not an impressive cv but oustandig in the last couple
    of races for Arden. He totally clinched his oppertunity to score massive results with Frijns, Bianchi and Bird under pressure fighting for the championship.

  10. I said this in previous article but I think it will be really interesting to see how Frijn’s matches up between the teams with the C31 and RB8. Of course, both teams could run very different set-ups and tests but assuming they both allow him to go flat out it will be interesting. Remember last year when Ricciardo got everyone excited because he set a faster time than Vettel did (on a very high grip track)? I expect something similar could happen this year but a good result in the C31 could mean we’re on to something exciting here.

  11. Alfredo Baredo
    22nd October 2012, 20:58

    That Robin Frijns got something in his eyes that reminds me of some F1 legend. Some killerinstinct with the desire to win, nothing less. He will fight for the F1 championship in the near future and will be a ruthless competitor. Mark my words, this driver is going shake up the Formula 1 world in a couples of years. Sooner then you may think.

    1. Cleuber - Brasil
      23rd October 2012, 0:56

      I agree!!

  12. I think there could be a coffee sponsor on the horizon soon?

  13. It’s a pity Jules Bianchi didn’t win the 3.5 series, if only so we’d have seen a Ferrari driver in a Red Bull.

    1. Kimi Räikkönen
      23rd October 2012, 9:34

      +1
      I hope he gets Hülkenbergs vacated FI seat next year. The boy’s got talent!

    2. @katerby
      no we wouldn’t have, the price is for the highest placed driver in FR 3.5 who is NOT already tied to another team. As Bianchi is already tied to Ferrari (and Force India) He was never elligeble for the test-price, neither was Sam Bird, so Frijns was basicly guaranteed the test a few races back

      1. @melkurion Ah that’s a shame, would have been fun though! But I can see why RBR and Renault brought in that clause.

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