Driver line-up confirmed for Young Drivers’ Test

2013 F1 season

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The driver-line up for the Young Drivers’ Test which starts at Silverstone tomorrow has been confirmed.

Following Mercedes’ expulsion from the test, ten of the eleven teams will participate in the three days of running.

All of them bar McLaren will take advantage of the opportunity to run at least one of the race drivers to test the new tyres Pirelli have produced.

Among the race drivers who will appear at the test are Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa.

TeamWednesday 17thThursday 18thFriday 19th
Red BullAntonio Felix da CostaAntonio Felix da Costa (am)
Daniel Ricciardo (pm)
Carlos Sainz Jnr (am)
Sebastian Vettel (pm)
FerrariDavide RigonDavide RigonFelipe Massa (am)
Davide Rigon (pm)
McLarenKevin MagnussenOliver TurveyGary Paffett
LotusNicolas ProstDavide ValsecchiNicolas Prost
MercedesBanned
SauberRobin FrijnsRobin Frijns (am)
Nico Hulkenberg (pm)
Kimiya Sato
Force IndiaJames Calado, Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil*
WilliamsDaniel JuncadellaPastor MaldonadoSusie Wolff
Toro RossoJohnny Cecotto JnrDaniel Ricciardo (am)
Carlos Sainz Jnr (pm)
Jean-Eric Vergne (am)
Daniil Kvyat (pm)
CaterhamAlexander RossiWill StevensCharles Pic /
Giedo van der Garde
MarussiaTio Ellinas (am)
Max Chilton (pm)
Rodlfo GonzalezRodlfo Gonzalez (am)
Jules Bianchi (pm)

*Running order to be confirmed.

2013 F1 season


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Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei

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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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48 comments on “Driver line-up confirmed for Young Drivers’ Test”

  1. Williams will be running Juncadella, Maldonado and Wolff for a day each in that order: https://twitter.com/WilliamsF1Team/status/356727014679523328

    1. @jamesremuscat Ta, have updated that.

  2. Strange that Alonso does not feel the need to test the new tyres.

    1. True but perhaps it’s not his choice, or perhaps if they are going to be similar to last year’s and/or an improvement over how the tires have been so far this year, he is confident that Friday’s practice of the next race will be sufficient for him, given that the team will have compiled data on the tires this week via Massa and Rigon. ie. FA must be confident that the team will have some good setup ideas ahead of the next race based on their discoveries this week, otherwise I think he WOULD test this week.

      1. Note too…Lotus…no Grosjean…Mac…no primary drivers at all…

    2. How do you know the decision was made by him ?
      Maybe Ferrari want primarly young drivers in the car so they can fit updated parts to the F138. Right now they need aero testing more than tyre testing.

      1. @jons Then they would have given Marciello a chance..

    3. I’m surprised that he isn’t testing at all. It seems odd that he wouldn’t want to take at least half a day on the 2nd or 3rd day to check on the team’s progress.

  3. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    16th July 2013, 16:16

    Surprises me: Ricciardo in 2 different cars… No Russian guy in Sauber yet

    1. @omarr-pepper I don’t think Sirotkin has a superlicence yet.

      1. @omarr-pepper – Sauber had already confirmed their driver line-up before they did the Russian deal. It was too late for Sirotkin to join them.

        @fixy – He doesn’t need a superlicence to take part in the test, since one of the ways he can get a superlicence is to do 300km of testing.

    2. Agreed. Up to him to benefit from this double experience! A little sad about JEV who had some bad luck but who knows what can happen?

    3. Well, there is a Russian guy in Toro Rosso though…

  4. Question: if Red Bull are allowed to use a non-contracted driver in Ricciardo (very strictly speaking), can anybody test with anyone, theoretically?

    1. I suspect there are some contract clauses to take care of Ricciardo testing with a ‘sister’ team that is considered ‘senior’ to the ‘junior’ team he is on. ie. I would say most drivers don’t have such things in their contract nor would most teams want to let their driver(s) test with just anyone (hence things like ‘garden leave’). Hasn’t Torro Rosso basically been referred to as Red Bull’s ‘mule team?’

      1. Remembering from when Lewis went the Merc, he wasn’t allowed to do anything with the team with McLaren’s permission until Jan 1st when his contract with them ended. I’m sure most contracts have something in them about not helping rival teams which wouldn’t apply to RBR/STR, but i can’t see the FIA caring who drives what car as long as they meet the requirements for being a “young driver” or stick with tire development.

        1. I dont think McLaren has ever been a Mercedes subproduct. Both Daniel & JEV are part of the RB driver program if I correctly remember? So it lies perhaps in those contracts. But as you said FIA would not care anyway as long as it follows the ‘rules’

          1. @spoutnik There’s a difference between the Rad Bull Junior Team and the Ferrari Driver Academy. Ricciardo and JEV have been listed as former members of the RBJT, whereas Bianchi is still listed as a Ferrari Driver Academy member.

    2. I guess they are all contracted to Red Bull’s holding company, which probably owns both teams as well as the technology division.

      1. Delete word “probably”.

    3. Does it matter? The regs stipulate that a ‘Young Driver’ will be one who has competed in less than 2 (?) events.

      Basically, Ricciardo will be doing Pirelli testing and nothing more. It could be a scheduling thing, given the short notice change allowing race drivers to attend.

  5. The YTD at Silverstone should provide the most interesting off week of the season. There are many new and different drivers testing as well as veterans and this should offer some fascinating points of comparison, justified or not. Different drivers will be testing for different purposes and yet these are the only points of comparison amongst drivers and teams we have to go on at this stage of the season. Speculation and opinions will flow post test for some time to come. Wonder if there will be any broadcast or video available? Let the games begin!

  6. …and Marussia have just added Chilton and Bianchi to the mix: https://twitter.com/Marussia_F1Team/status/357165019961634817

  7. Strange to not see more actual drivers doing more testing.

    @KeithCollantine – I was just wondering, and maybe anyone else has any information on this. They have a 3-seater F1 simulator at Silverstone for the three days. Would anyone happen to know if this is realistic, with no TC and ABS, or whether it’s more like the Codemasters version?

  8. Why on earth are STR running Johnny Cecotto Jnr?

  9. Marussia’s change in their driver line-up is now reflected above.

  10. I think that this is called a young drivers test and so should be done by ‘young drivers’. I realise that Pirelli has put an extra day to test tires so ‘old’ drivers should only be allowed to run for the equivalent of a day, most teams have done that, but Red Bull is using ‘old’ drivers for one and a half days and so should be made to replace one of their afternoon sessions with a ‘young’ driver.

    1. First of all there is not an extra day. That had been suggested but it was not instigated so it is a 3 day test as was always going to be the case. Secondly, I think you are placing age as the determinent but I think the intentions of the teams would be to give inexperienced drivers some experience no matter their age presumably because using whoever they are using is relevant to their overall program. I don’t think teams should be ‘made’ to use any one driver over another, even though originally the YDT was to exclude any primary drivers but the urgency of the Pirelli issues changed that. Even with the allowance to use primary drivers not all teams are doing so. And some are only using one.

      1. Sorry, I forgot the extra day was dropped, but still there should be a limit on how much you are allowed to run with older drivers, this is meant to be a ‘Young Drivers’ test, not ‘see how much you can gain from drivers that have already made it into F1’ test. These days were made for giving new drivers the experience needed for F1 teams to give them a seat, not for teams to improve aspects of the car. I understand that you can not limit everything, but allowing experienced drivers to ‘test tires’ goes completely against what the test was made for and so should be limited.

  11. I hope that with the advent of this test, and namely Mercedes exclusion, that all talk of Mercedes having gained alleged advantage from the Pirelli tire test back in May will now be neutralized given that this test allows all other teams not only a chance to run primary drivers, but to compile data on current tires for far more than the 10% of 1000km that Mercedes did on coded current tires with no data sharing, as well as compiling data on young drivers and data on new components for their cars. I think Mercedes is now (once this week’s test is over) the sole disadvantaged team over the rest of the field when you compare and contrast what they could and mostly couldn’t do back in May vs. what the other teams can do this week.

  12. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out who this “Banned” guy was…

    1. Ha ha…and they’re using him for all 3 days both am and pm. He’s going to be tired but so much more experienced than he was before.

    2. I wonder if this driver called “Banned” will have as good a career in F1 as “Own Goal” did in football!

  13. So McLaren is the only team not to make use of their race drivers at all…

    1. It looks to me like a lineup change is getting nearer. I expect Button will end his career with McLaren but I don’t see Perez lasting much longer. He did look very promising but hasn’t shown consistency.

      1. not you opinion at all… JB has contract for next year and it was only last month that the bosses said that he will have a seat at McLaren as long as he would like to… Plus 2015 it’s Honda-McLaren again…
        Perez will be out sooner or latter though

    2. McLaren were always going to run their test drivers – Paffett and Turvey, as they are well suited for the role (Turvey is a Cambridge aerodynamics graduate), and have been doing it for many years. Paffett has done a mind-boggling number of test days for the team.

  14. i am surprised that sauber haven’t given esteban gutierrez some mileage in the C32 at the young drivers test…so is the case with valtteri bottas in the williams.

    1. It could be financial reasons…

      1. but nico hulkenberg who is supposed to be the senior driver is testing for sauber…as it is , gutierrez hasnt done anything special to miss this YDT. he has made a lot of mistakes during the course of the session and need more time in the car. so why not gutierrez?

        1. Because they actually want some useful testing mileage? Hulk is far more experienced and far more consistent

  15. damn, would have loved to see Stoffel Vandoorne get a chance :(

    1. Me too. He deserves a go as much as Magnussen, but good to see Kevin getting a drive.
      Topsy and Paffett will never make it as F1 race drivers, will they?

      A bit surprised McLaren haven’t got Sergio Perez testing – the guy who shredded more tyres than anyone over the Silverstone race weekend.

      1. Kevin is getting some running as their young driver – I guess Stoffel will have to wait until next year. I do wonder where Magnussen will be racing next year, GP2 or Sports Cars… I can see Stoffel in FR 3.5 again or, hopefully, GP2, hopefully not – sports cars.

  16. I am actually really satisfied with the test line-up; it appears to me that the teams aren’t abusing the rules allowing them to run race drivers, so in essence, the original idea of the YDT is still intact and young talent is being allowed to show the F1 paddock how good they can be.

  17. Glad to see Toro Rosso testing Kvyat. Might there be a chance we’ll have TWO Russians on the grid in the near future?

  18. A late change of the order of running at Red Bull – https://twitter.com/danielricciardo/status/357425955989499905

  19. As Webber is now not testing the table above has been updated:

    No Red Bull test for Webber after FIA “clarification”

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