The annual young driver testing starts in Abu Dhabi this morning, but who’s driving for who? Find out below.
Red Bull
Jean-Eric Vergne takes the reigns of the Toro Rosso on all three days of the session, with the recent Toro Rosso Friday Practice driver getting another chance to prove his worth. The Frenchman has tasted success in winning championships in both Formula Renault, and British Formula Three.
McLaren
30-year-old Gary Paffett may not be a ‘young driver’, but he’s been the McLaren test driver for many years, and is once again rewarded with a drive. Paffett has been driving in the German DTM touring car series since 2003, and won the title in 2005.
Paffett will share the driving duties with Cumbrian Oliver Turvey, who also drove for McLaren at the young driver test last year. The 24-year-old won the McLaren Autosport Award in 2006, and after struggling for funds to continue open-wheel racing has now signed up as a development driver for McLaren GT. Read an interview we conducted with Oliver, last year.
Ferrari
Ferrari’s official test driver and member of their driver academy Jules Bianchi tests for the Scuderia at the young driver test this year, as he did in 2010. Bianchi has won titles in Formula Renault and Formula Three, and finished 3rd at this year’s GP2 championship, having won the feature race at Silverstone.
Mercedes GP
As he did last year, Sam Bird takes on the responsibility of driving for Mercedes GP. Bird finished 6th in this year’s GP2 championship, one place behind where he finished last year. Bird is another driver who we have been lucky enough to interview, read it here.
Renault
Renault have three drivers in the R31 this week, with Canadian Robert Wickens taking the reigns first. Wickens won the Formula Renault 3.5 Series this year, and is a reserve driver with F1 team Virgin Racing. Estonian Kevin Korjus will drive on Wednesday, with the 18-year-old having won the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 last year. This year, Korjus became the youngest driver to win a race in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, at just 18 years 3 months and 8 days. He finished 6th overall in the championship. Czech Republic’s Jan Charouz takes to the wheel on Thursday, with an impressive CV. He’s been a Renault reserve driver since 2010, and won the 2009 Le Mans Series, taking fourth place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Force India
Brother of BTCC’s Tom, Max Chilton will share two thirds of the driving duties at Force India this week, taking the wheel on Tuesday and Thursday. Chilton drove in GP2 in 2011, finishing the championship in 20th place. On Wednesday it will be the turn of son of former F1 driver, Johnny Cecotto Jr, a German-born Venezuelan, who spent this season in GP2, failing to score a single point. He has tasted success in the German Formula Three Championship, finishing 3rd in the championship in 2008.
Sauber
Swiss Fabio Leimer will get the chance to drive an F1 car for the first time on Tuesday, having spent the last couple of seasons in GP2. Leimer finished 14th in this year’s championship, with the highlight being a win at the Circuit de Catalunya. Official Sauber F1 reserve Esteban Gutierrez will drive on Wednesday and Thursday. Gutierrez spent this year in GP2 as well, finishing 13th, having won the sprint race in Valencia.
Toro Rosso
Monegasque Stefano Coletti and Italian Kevin Ceccon drive for Toro Rosso, with the former driving on Tuesday and Thursday morning and the latter taking to the track on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Coletti was driving in GP2 in 2011, and won sprint races in Turkey and Hungary, finishing the championship in 11th place. Ceccon drove half of this year’s GP2 season, and in the process became the youngest ever GP2 Series driver. However, he decided to leave to concentrate on the Auto GP championship, which he won.
Williams
Official F1 test driver and new GP3 champion Valtteri Bottas will drive for Williams over two days, with 21-year-old Italian and reigning Formula Two champion Mirko Bortolotti driving on the other. This won’t be his first taste of F1, having tested for Ferrari in 2008 and Toro Rosso in 2009.
Lotus
Lotus have three drivers taking the wheel over the three days, with Rodolfo Gonzalez, Luiz Razia and Alexander Rossi taking to the wheel on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday respectively. Gonzalez drove for the team at last year’s test, and spent this season driving in GP2, where he didn’t pick up a single championship point. Luiz Razia drove last year too, but for Virgin Racing, and also was in GP2 this year. He was more successful, managing two podiums a pole position. American Rossi, spent this season in Formula Renault 3.5, where he finished 3rd.
HRT
Spaniard Dani Clos will drive for HRT, alongside Frenchman Nathanael Berthon, who will drive on Wednesday and Thursday. Clos won Formula Renault 2.0 Italia in 2006, and has spent the last three season in GP2, finishing this year’s championship 9th. Berthon won the French Formula Renault 2.0 in 2009, and partnered Clos at the Racing Engineering team in GP2 Asia this year, failing to score a championship point.
Virgin Racing
20-year-old Britain Adrian Quaife-Hobbs will be the first driver into the MVR-02 on Tuesday morning as a reward for being the best classified Marussia Manor Racing driver in the 2011 GP3 championship, in which he finished 5th. Frenchman Charles Pic will drive on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. Pic has driven the last two season in GP2, and this year finished 4th, winning at the Circuit de Catalunya and Monaco. The aforementioned Robert Wickens will jump from Renault to Virgin for the final day of testing.
