Da Costa and Sainz lined up for young drivers test

Antonio Felix da Costa and Carlos Sainz Jr will drive the Red Bull F1 car at the Young Drivers Test at Silverstone next month.

Da Costa, 21, (above) is the next driver in the Red Bul young driver programme poised to come into F1 and is a strong contender for a Toro Rosso seat next year in place of either Daniel Riccardo or Jean Eric Vergne, one of whom will either be promoted or dropped at the end of this season.

The retirement of Mark Webber is pushing Red Bull into evaluating the Toro Rosso pair now. Christian Horner said this morning in Silverstone that Webber would be replaced by either one of the Toro Ross pair or Kimi Raikkonen. If they decide in that evaluation process that either of the Toro Rosso drivers is not likely to be a champion, they are likely to be dropped as Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi were last year.

The details of the Young Driver Test, according to the Red Bull statement are that,

"Antonio will be at the wheel for the first two days of the test, with Carlos completing the team’s running at the Northamptonshire circuit on day three.

"No stranger to F1 machinery, Portuguese racer Félix da Costa took part in last year’s Young Driver Test at Yas Marina, where he put Red Bull Racing on top of the timesheet on his second day. Earlier this season, he filled the role of reserve driver for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, while regular reserve Sébastien Buemi was on duty at other series (he was racing at the World Endurance Championships during the Chinese Grand Prix and Le Mans testing while we were at the Canadian Grand Prix)."