Force India to test Buurman and da Costa

2011 F1 testing

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Yelmer Buurman, GP2 Asia, Bahrain, 2010

Yelmer Buurman and Antonio Felix da Costa will join Paul di Resta at Force India during the team’s young driver test days at Abu Dhabi.

Buurman and da Costa, from the Netherlands and Portugal respectively, will both be getting their first ever F1 tests.

Buurman, 23, has driven in Superleague Formula for the past two seasons and made ten GP2 appearances as Sebastien Buemi’s team mate at Arden in 2008. He also drove in the GP2 Asia series.

Da Costa, 19, was the top rookie in the F3 Euroseries this year.

Force India chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer said:

We are pleased to be able to offer Yelmer and Antonio the opportunity to test an F1 car, which they both feel will be brilliant exposure and experience at this early stage in their career.

Paul will set the benchmark times so they can assess their own performance and see how to work within a top level team.
Otmar Szafnauer

Read more: 2011 F1 testing dates confirmed

Image © Alastair Staley/GP2 Media Service

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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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18 comments on “Force India to test Buurman and da Costa”

  1. Sounds pretty good. Di resta sets times and they can try to get as close as possible and do some consistency.

    Is there a Dutch route or just about sponsorhip money with Buurman and FI ex Spyker?

    1. I think Buurman got this oppurtunity because of Michiel Mol, who is a Dutch businessman and owns FI along with Vijay Mallya.

      1. Yeah, it’s very easy to forget that Force India are actually 50% owned by a Dutch consortium (I think)

    2. Buurman is veery rich and António Felix Da Costa is a promising youngman a lot younger than buurman but less rich

      1. anyway i believe Felix da costa has paid around 400.000 euros for this test likewise Alvaro Parente with Lotus

        1. The value that Felix da Costa has paid is 200.000€.

  2. every year there are new drivers coming where will the older guys go?

    1. They put them out to Stud :D

  3. Two drivers eh? this says to me that Sutil’s on his way out to another team and Liuzzi is out. An all new driver line-up at Force India will be really refreshing.

    1. It’s proof of nothing. I believe da Costa is moving into GP2 next season, though I have no idea what Buurman is going to do. Sutil claims he’ll be spending his 2011 season with Force India, and it’s believed that the team want to get Paul di Resta into a racing seat in Liuzzi’s place.

  4. Di Resta will probably replace Liuzzi next year, or so I hope, because I’m assuming he’d be an ideal replacement for Michael Schumacher in 2012/2013, and Mercedes are aware of this (DTM) and I would guess they are pushing Force India for that drive.

    As for Buurman, nothing really special there.

    Antonio Félix da Costa is racing in GP2 for Ocean next year, as his manager is Tiago Monteiro, who interestingly enough drove for the predecessors of Force India: Jordan and Midland/Spyker. Based on his Formula Renault and EuroSeries performances, I’d like to see him on the F1 grid for perhaps 2012 or 2013.

  5. This is old news, it already was known between korea and brazil. I posted in one of the day posts (old style) dat Buurman got a FI test spot.

    1. Keith needs to put the pen done and stop working then!

  6. pen down^ DOH!

    Yeah comment was too short.

  7. They’re both throwing a lot of money around for seat time in an F1 car. It’s not like Force India called these lads up because they’re super-quick. Buurman in particular is a bit of a no hoper.

  8. I’m portuguese so I was very happy to hear this news; I hope this is the beginning of an awesome F1 career for Felix! I miss having a countryman to support! :P

  9. Michiel Mol has nothing to do with the Rookie Test Yelmer has in his pocket!

    Otmar Szafnauer is the man to talk too…

    Yelmer raced already in GP2 w. Ocean and Arden.
    Got the grips with a BIG V12 Superleague Formula.

    Unlike Felix, Yelmer knows what to expect and more important what is expected from his side.

    Besides it is a Rookie Test, let the young guns prove their mettle in F1!

    Bom diaz,

  10. At least Buurman fits well in the tradition of Montoya, Fisichella, Hamilton.

    That is to name few…’hooners’!

    Dutch readers correct me if I’m wrong, but a few weeks ago I saw him at ‘wegmisbruikers’ (‘road abusers’ – dutch police / hidden camara program). He was caught speeding, while on his way to Assen for the start of the Superleague…

    Just as Alonso fan above, I just hope for countryman in F1. We need someone to fill the years until Nyck de Vries, or preferably Max Verstappen will finally enter F1 and shake it all up!

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