MOTORSPORT: F1 test for Aussie rising star

November 12, 2009

Special motorsport report

Hot on the heels of Mark Webber's best season in grand prix racing, another Australian is racing towards a career in Formula One.

Twenty-year-old Daniel Ricciardo from Perth is to be given a three-day F1 test by Red Bull Racing, the team for which Webber won the German and Brazilian GPs this year. The test, at Spain's Jerez circuit on December 1-3, comes as reward for Ricciardo winning 21 races in Europe in the past two years -- in Formula Three and Formula Renault.

"No way did I think I'd be getting this (F1 test) at the end of the year," Ricciardo said.

"I'm feeling very, very excited."

The youngster has already been fitted for his seat in the RB5 car at Red Bull Racing's headquarters at Milton Keynes, a town on the northern outskirts of London -- and where Ricciardo has lived this year while winning the British F3 Championship.

"To see the seat's getting done... this is something I've dreamed about since I can remember, so I'm really looking forward to it," he said.

As one of several youngsters in Red Bull's development squad grooming potential F1 drivers, Ricciardo had already secretly done an aerodynamic test for the team during the year.

And he has spent time in its simulator, which has become increasingly important in the development of F1 cars as track testing has become very limited as part of moves to contain costs.

But, having had an introduction to a GP racer through the aero test and the simulator, Ricciardo said an F1 car was "just a more wild piece of machinery" than what he's raced to date.

"The brakes are probably the biggest thing - the stopping power they have is quite huge," he said.

"Mentally you have to be more switched on as well as, obviously, everything's coming at you so much faster."

Although the F1 test is a huge pat on the back for the young Aussie, he is unlikely to get to race in a GP for another year or so.

He is already slotted to race next season in the Formula Renault 3.5 series, comprising 17 races at European circuits, including one at the Monaco GP.

He set a cracking pace last week at a two-day test for that series in Barcelona, lapping 0.6 seconds quicker than the next quickest driver, Spaniard Albert Costa. The 24 drivers included Greg Mansell, son of 1992 F1 world champion Nigel Mansell and who was seventh fastest, and New Zealander Brendon Hartley, who will be Ricciardo's Tech 1 teammate and was 13th on the timesheets.

Ricciardo scored 14 wins last year in Formula Renault, in which he became West European Champion and was the narrow runner-up in the category's Eurocup. This year, driving for Carlin Motorsport, he had seven victories on the way to winning the British F3 title,

He will complete his F3 career the weekend after next (November 21-22) at the Macau GP, hoping to emulate his idol Ayrton Senna's victory there in 1983.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at www.carsales.mobi