F1: Better F1 drive for young Aussie in 2012

MOTORSPORT REPORT

Ricciardo, 22, of Perth, WA, will race for Italian-based Scuderia Toro Rosso next season. He has just completed his debut season in F1, driving 11 GPs for small Spanish team HRT. Like veteran Australian Mark Webber, Ricciardo's career is backed by energy drink company Red Bull. His teammate at Toro Rosso will be French youngster Jean-Eric Vergne.

Toro Rosso has dumped Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi and Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari to make way for Ricciardo and Vergne. Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost said the double driver switch had been made despite what he called "excellent performances" by Buemi and Alguersuari "which have helped the team move forward and develop".

The Toro Rosso team was previously Minardi and was owned by expatriate Australian aviation entrepreneur Paul Stoddart for five years until he sold it to Red Bull in late 2005. The perennial backmarker team in the sport in those Minardi days, Toro Rosso has improved greatly in recent times and this year finished eighth of the 12 teams in the constructors' world championship.

Alguersuari and Buemi improved too, scoring 26 and 15 points in the latest season -- although that still left them 14th and 15th in the drivers' championship.

Although Toro Rosso is run by Tost and world championship team Red Bull Racing by Christian Horner, the supremo of Red Bull's motorsport activities is Austrian former F1 driver Dr Helmut Marko, who has championed Vettel's rise.

Vettel scored his first F1 victory for Toro in a wet Italian GP in 2008 at just 21 years of age. He has since won another 20 GPs with Red Bull Racing and the world championship the past two seasons. At 24 he is the youngest driver to have been F1 world champion and the youngest dual world champion.

Ricciardo was thrilled at the news of his elevation announced overnight by Toro Rosso.

"This is a really big deal for me," he said. "This is something I have wanted since I was driving for Toro Rosso on Friday mornings at the GPs in the first part of last season [before Red Bull placed him at HRT].

"To be honest, I am still jumping up and down with excitement at the news... In the second half of this year I learned a lot from the people I worked with [at HRT], racing in 11 GPs and I want to thank them for the opportunity they gave me.

"I have to say that joining Scuderia Toro Rosso was always my real goal, so a big thank you to Red Bull for giving me this fantastic opportunity. Now I can't wait to get to work once testing begins in the new year."

Toro Rosso team principal Tost explained the rationale for the dumping of Buemi and Alguersuari.

"When Scuderia Toro Rosso was established in 2005 it was done so with the intention of providing a first step into F1 for the youngsters in the Red Bull junior driver program," he said. "It is therefore part of the team's culture to change its driver line-up from time to time in order to achieve this goal.

"I am pleased that we have been able to reach an early decision on our drivers for next year, because it means we can all give our full attention to 2012, without any distractions.

"Over the past year Daniel and Jean-Eric have proved their worth and I expect them to make a significant contribution to the team's performance next year.

"Daniel has the benefit of having actually raced in GPs for much of this year, while Jean-Eric proved he could adapt quickly to the demands of driving an F1 car... As they have both worked with the team and its engineers very recently, this should allow us to get up to speed right from the start of winter testing in a couple of months time."

Vergne succeeded Ricciardo as a Toro Rosso Friday morning practice driver at GPs late in the past season after the Australian started racing for HRT.

The Frenchman won this year's British Formula Three Championship, a title Ricciardo claimed in 2009 and -- among a long list of racing luminaries -- the great Brazilian Ayrton Senna in 1983.

Vergne also was second in this year's World Series by Renault, again emulating Ricciardo's feat of last year -- although the Australian has won the Monaco GP support race in that category for 3.5-litre Renault-engined openwheelers the past two years.

"I am ready to take on the ultimate challenge of racing in F1," Vergne said. "Christmas has come early for me this year!

"Having driven [in practice] for Toro Rosso a few times this year and also testing for Red Bull Racing in Abu Dhabi, I definitely feel ready to make the move... I know there is a big difference between testing and actually racing.

"I enjoyed working with the guys at Toro Rosso this year and I can't wait to be part of the team for real... Sitting on the grid in Melbourne next March cannot come soon enough."

The Australian GP on March 18 will be the opening round of a scheduled 20-race 2012 world championship.

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