This week in Jerez in Spain, the Formula 1 circus will run a test which is designed only for drivers who have completed in fewer than three Grands Prix. None of the new teams will have any cars available for the test so there will be the nine existing operations (Toyota not being involved).
McLaren is expected to run regular test driver Gary Paffett, who has yet to race in Formula 1, while Williams will use its 2010 debutant Nico Hulkenberg and will give Formula 2 Champion Andy Soucek his first taste of Grand Prix racing. Brawn GP has decided to use Mike Conway, who is currently racing in the IRL, and rising Swedish star Marcus Ericsson, who was a frontrunner in British and Japanese F3 this year, winning the latter championship. Ferrari will run the Formula 3 Eurocup Champion Jules Bianchi, along with the top three in this year’s Italian Formula 3 championship: Italians Daniel Zampieri and Marco Zipoli, and Mexico Pablo Sanchez Lopez.
A second Mexican Esteban Gutierrez will be seen driving for BMW Sauber as part of his prize for winning the European Formula BMW series in 2008. he will be joined by American Alexander Rossi, who won the Formula BMW Americas title and was the winner of the BMW World Final.
A second American will be seen driving for the Force India team: JR Hildebrand, the current Indy Lights champion has done a deal with Force India and will share a VJM02 with Mercedes’s DTM star Paul di Resta, who won the Formula 3 Eurocup back in 2006, racing against the likes of Sebastian Vettel.
Red Bull Racing will be giving Australian youngster – and British F3 champion – Daniel Ricciardo his first taste of F1 while Toro Rosso intends to field New Zealander Brendon Hartley and Italy’s Mirko Bortolotti.
Renault will run the new World Series champion Bertrand Baguette, a Belgian, while also giving test driver Lucas di Grassi and Chinese driver Ho Pin Tung an opportunity.
Most of these guys either have long-term ties to the respective team and/or have earned the test via their results in other series.
Ho Pin Tung stands out like a sore thumb here. He has no previous ties to Renault (their young driver programmes/etc) that Im aware of, and his results in GP2 were very poor. For 2009 he took a sizeable step down and didnt really impress there either.
Maybe Im just being overly suspicious, but with Renault being the only team to list 3 drivers for this test it just doesnt smell right. Whats the angle here?
forget Tung, he does not speak a sigle word of Chinese or Mandarin, no value fo a Chinese sponsor and he’s a useles racer, slow.
Alot of new face, will be interesting to see how the test works out.
Hey Joe,
Could you clarify this for me please?
“A second American will be seen driving for the Force India team: JR Hildebrand, the current Indy Lights champion has done a deal with Force India”
Does that mean that he’s paid FI to test, or that they signed him to test/reserve, or something else entirely???
Thanks.
Jim,
He is just testing – at the moment. I do not know more than that.
It will be interesting to see, now that Mclaren and Merc are seperate entities whether the latter are any better at bringing through any of their young guns. There is a tendency for drivers like Gary Paffet and Paul di Resta to get stuck in the DTM and find it difficult to progress through to F1.
Also, the FIA/FOTA have really got to get the in season testing ban tweaked in some way. The third driver for Friday practice rule was a great idea while it lasted. It definitely helped Kubica and Vettel and although he’s still on the sidelines, Anthony Davidson undoubtedly raised his profile and experience through it.
Teams are going to keep going with the no-risk Heidfelds and Trullis of this world as long as there is such limited opportunity for new drivers to gain real experience. F1 needs a mixture of ‘old hands’ and ‘fresh blood’ if it is to progress.
Do you know if they cover enough mileage (300km) in these tests to get any of these guys a superlicence? It looks like only a few would qualify based on past results.
From an American point of view:
Conway surprises me. Was not impressed with him this year in the IRL.
Good for Hildebrand. I think he’s a genuine talent and I was hoping Andretti Green or someone in the IRL could pick him up as he could be one of those next-generation American stars alongside Graham Rahal. Still a few months left in our silly season and nothing settles til after the new year usually anyway.
Never heard of Alexander Rossi.
Jim,
The test is apparently to see who becomes their reserve
Every single headline writer in the world is praying that Bertrand Baguette will enter F1.
Personally I am going to resist doing any jokes and I intend to stick to that policy.
Let’s hope the French Stick to it too.
Ricciardo, Bianci, Bortolotti, and Baguette are all stars of the future in my opinion.
@ Chris,
Agree with all the above (especially Ricciardo), but will like to add Hildebrand to that list too
Baguette’s a rising star, no matter how you slice it.
I see AUTOSPORT are reporting that Oliver Turvey will drive for McLaren.
RJ,
If you are going to title your response “from an American Viewpoint,” then you need to do some better research on our American Drivers that could be possible bids for F1.
Alexander Rossi is a guaruntee for F1 in the near future. He is only 18 and won the BMW Americas title as well as the BMW world final! He has some serious talent and is currently in the GP2 Asia series where he managed a 4th and 5th place finish in his debut weekend. Rahal doesnt even race for Andretti Green and one can hardly call him a star after winning only 1 race in the IRL.
Hildebrand has some great talent as well although im dying to see how he fares this weekend in an F1 car, a big difference from an Indy Lights Dallara!
Summerton won an A1GP Race for team USA but doesnt have the Resumee of Hildebrand.
Next Years US F1 lineup WILL go like this…
#1 Alexander Rossi
#2 JR Hildebrand
Test Driver Jonathon Summerton
To clarify when i said next years USF1 lineup, i meant in 2011. 2010 will be Jose Maria Lopez and probably either Hildebrand, De La Rosa, Villenueve, or Summerton.
“The test is apparently to see who becomes their reserve.”
With in-season testing at a standstill, what’s the point of this position anymore other than being the first guy called upon if star driver gets injured?
Ericsson impressed me a couple of years back when I saw him dominating FBMW at Knockhill, though it may have been a case of a shallow talent pool making him look better than he is – I certainly don’t recall there being anyone else of note in the field that year.
Conway? Going a few years further back, he too impressed me round Knockhill, in a FRenault. Hard to say what to make of him thogh. From what little I saw of the IRL he seemed to be doing ok at least on the road courses, but I only watched a couple of rounds all season. Didn’t exactly stand out in GP2, but then the team he drove for in his second year didn’t either…
On the subject of Hildebrand, I read that apparently he was slower in the simulator than Jani and Chandhok but is bringing more money, hence why he’s now in the running for the reserve slot (with the potential for a race seat in 2011). If it doesn’t come off for JR, apparently there’s an IndyCar seat at KV Racing waiting for him, so he has options
Shows how much people on the inside think of US F1, given that a decent young American with money is passing over them to try and get a reserve seat…
I hope there is an American driver who can really deliver the goods, no matter who it is. Then the USA may come looking for GPs.
If you are going to title your response “from an American Viewpoint,” then you need to do some better research on our American Drivers that could be possible bids for F1.
Alexander Rossi is a guaruntee for F1 in the near future. He is only 18 and won the BMW Americas title as well as the BMW world final!
I’m so sorry. I keep up with NASCAR Cup, Nationwide, Trucks, IRL, Indy Lights, ALMS, Grand-Am, Formula One, USAC Silver Crown, Sprint Car, Midget, and random other racing events. I’m obviously horrible at knowing about the sport from “an American perspective”. I was just stating I’ve never heard of Rossi, for 99% of American racefans it’s probably the same. Formula BMW Americas gets as much coverage in this country as Star Mazda.
Shows how much people on the inside think of US F1, given that a decent young American with money is passing over them to try and get a reserve seat…
If the goal were to be a Formula One driver next year, than yes, you would be right. Not sure that is Hildebrand’s goal.
Rahal doesnt even race for Andretti Green and one can hardly call him a star after winning only 1 race in the IRL.
1. Yes, I know. He races for Newman-Haas-Lanigan. I meant “alongside Graham Rahal” as one of the young up-and-coming Americans. God knows the IRL needs them.
2. Of course he only won one race, he’s not driving for Ganassi or Penske.
3. Not really a fan of Rahal, strikes me as a bit of a punk that thinks he’s better than his really is (maybe next year he’ll figure out how not to crash in Turn 4 at Indy). But he’s got talent for the future certainly. Whether that’s good enough for F1, I can care less and would rather him stay in Indycars. F1 is not the be all, end all for me, never has been.
Joe,
any idea why McLaren have Giedo van der Garde in their young driver programme, yet never (AFAIK) have had him test a real F1 car?
While I personally do believe he has the raw speed (I might be biased as a Dutchman), based on his past results in junior formulae I would understand if they removed him from that programme. What I don’t underdstand though, is keeping him but never letting him test…….
I did hear a rumor, that they were about to let him go, but still owed him a test in their simulator, and then deceided to keep him based on his performance there. That was in 2008 though, so they would have had ample opportunity to let him test a real car after that.
On what basis is he guaranteed an F1 drive. He won the 2008 BMW Americas title. So what. Only 7 drivers did the full season. That does not suggest that it is a remotely serious championship. The only other driver in that championship who anyone has ever heard of is Adrien Tambay and that is because of who his father is.
That same season he did two Formula BMW races in Europe and finished 22nd and 10th. Hardly stellar performances.
In 2009 in International Formula Master where I have only heard of him in the top 20 drivers he finished 4th with half the points of the champion.
He may end up in F1 but he is a very long way from having results that guarantee it.