Sainz Jnr to test for Red Bull in Abu Dhabi

2014 F1 season

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Carlos Sainz Jnr, who is in contention for a seat at Toro Rosso next year, will test for Red Bull in Abu Dhabi next week.

The team has confirmed Sainz will drive the RB10 on day one of the two-day test at Yas Marina on Tuesday. Daniel Ricciardo will take over on Wednesday.

Sainz won the Formula Renault 3.5 championship this year and the test forms part of his prize.

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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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23 comments on “Sainz Jnr to test for Red Bull in Abu Dhabi”

  1. Because I’m half Portuguese, I’d give JEV’s seat to Antonio Felix da Costa but I’d put Sainz Jr in the sister car, not Verstappen. However, seems to me we will have Sainz Jr vs. Verstappen next year at Toro Rosso unless Bernie’s pathetic three cars idea goes ahead and Red Bull fields Ricciardo/Kvyat/Sainz Jr and Toro Rosso goes for Vergne/Verstappen/Da Costa.

    1. I’m also portuguese and I’d love to see AFC there. Portugal does not possess a large number of possible future F1 drivers, so it’s a shame to see this opportunity slip away. If he had a reasonable financial support from Portugal, the story could have been different

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        18th November 2014, 0:12

        @blackadder, you are right that some drivers’ careers depend a lot on national support.
        However, I’d argue as da Costa was part of the Red Bull Junior Team that financial backing was no longer his problem. Red Bull looks at talent/potential/fit when graduating drivers to F1. Da Costa is very fast (wins in GP3) but in RB’s eyes does not seem to be the right driver at the moment fitting those criteria.

    2. I can see Ric/Kvyat/Jean and Verstappen/DaCosta/Sainz

      1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
        17th November 2014, 13:20

        I agree I think if it came to three cars you would have to let JEV see if he can step up and match Ricciardo

      2. I could see Verstappen and Sainz at STR but the third seat would then probably be Lynn or Gasly.

        I think the ship has sailed for AFdC, three-car teams or not.

        1. Indeed, despite his bullet 2012, I think Felix da Costa has been ‘replaced’ on the program by Lynn, who beat him to the pole in Macau. @mattds

          @jcost It’s been seriously hard for a Portuguese driver to get into F1, Felix da Costa or Albuquerque.. but better for Brazilian drivers, who can find sponsorship much easier.

          1. @fastiesty indeed. Felix da Costa can only get there through talent (via Red Bull) otherwise he will not raise enough money to join in.

            Albuquerque will not make it either, I see another Alvaro Parente in him: a solid driver but not an outstanding talent that can get the attention of a big team…

            On Brazilians, Nasr is good, but I don’t see a champion in him just yet. He can get better with time but the next big thing from Brazil could be Pedro Piquet (Nelson Jr younger bro) who’s moving to European feeder series in 2015 after winning Brazilian F3 championship.

          2. @jcost We could see a Fittipaldi vs. Piquet battle! I agree in that Felix da Costa might be better than the other two, but Parente is not bad either. Nasr, strangely, seems to have ‘gone off the boil’ in GP2, like Ericsson and Gutierrez, who carried that over into F1. Before that, all 3 were great talents, same for Calado, and even Evans.

  2. Ah, so that’s a Renault prize – and a very good one. Shame the GP2 champion hasn’t got a similar prize with somebody.

    He could still test a Toro Rosso the other day – they’ve done that before.

    1. @bullfrog In effect, RB can also say that their junior needs to win the championship, to get a test in their car at the YDT, or they are not good enough… So, 2 days for Sainz, 2 for Verstappen, 1 for Ricciardo, 1 for Kvyat? Or 1 for Vergne somewhere, to compare him with Sainz?

    2. @bullfrog I think the GP2 champion gets a test drive as well, although this year in the case of Leimer it came later (in about May?) and with an older spec car (2012 Lotus).

      Tost already said before in a Friday press conference that regardless of who ends up as Verstappen’s teammate at Toro Rosso, Max will do both test days.

      1. Marco Wittmann is doing one day, as a DTM fan I’m very happy about this! http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/10/16514.html

        1. @jmc200 It doesn’t say anywhere that he’s going to drive in Abu Dhabi, neither that he’s driving a 2014 car – I suspect it will be a 2 year old spec as usual.
          And Tost’s interview came after that about Verstappen doing both days: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/10/16547.html

          1. Original versions of the story said he’d be driving in Abu Dhabi, but yeah, judging by Verstappen’s erratics I guess they’re giving him all the time they can. Disappointing that Lynn isn’t getting any running.

          2. ColdFly F1 (@)
            18th November 2014, 0:19

            @jmc200 – “Verstappen’s erratics” ?? – you mean Rotterdam crash?

            So far in F1 tests I haven’t seen him put one foot wrong. The ‘Brazilian drift’ was actually quite spectacular.

      2. I think the GP2 champion gets a test drive as well

        Not by default. They might get a test, or they might not.

        In FR3.5, the leader at the halfway point of the season is invited to do a promotional drive at RBR, and the winner of the championship gets a testing day at RBR.

  3. @ColdFly F1 – also his incident at the Macau Grand Prix qualifying race

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      18th November 2014, 8:42

      @pt, I did not see the Macau race. I read that he crashed during the qualifying race.
      But I also see that he qualified 2nd, drove from 24th to 7th in the main race, and set the fastest time.

      For me the jury is still out, but I am overall quite impressed with what he has shown since being announced for the TR seat.

  4. Yes, he is a very impressive driver in the Senna mold (maybe). I was just affirming @Jack‘s view that he has a tendency of crashing more…may be because of his lack of more than a season of car racing experience. It’s not to say he isn’t good.

  5. so are the teams able to test new engines next week? all 3 teams are already developing them (forget money saving whatever they tell you), Mercedes saying they have found 60hp. when can they run them for the first time? next week or next year?
    the only money saving the sport is doing this year with the engine freeze allowing certain changes is by not letting the teams test – there is no budget cap on the development work they are all obviously doing. the engine freeze is a farce, it only works to save money when there is parity or when a total freeze is in place. bring back the v8s, we had parity, and the sport was so much more atmospheric with a much better sound, both in quality and volume.

    1. I think from next week they can use new engines. Im pretty sure McL will test with Honda in the tub.

  6. Well done to Sainz Jr, his dad was the Senna equivalent to WRC, at least until Colin McRae arrived!

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