Toro Rosso have announced that Jaime Alguersuari will drive for the team, taking the place of the sacked Sebastien Bourdais.
The Spaniard, 19, will become the youngest driver to take part in a Grand Prix when he races for the Italian outfit in Hungary this weekend.
The British Formula Three champion has been picked from Toro Rosso's young driver programme by boss Franz Tost.
Toro Rosso let French driver Bourdais go after two seasons with the team.
Bourdais scored six points in 27 grands prix for Toro Rosso, but is now threatening legal action against them for what he considers a 'breach in his contractual duties'.Reports say that five-time world rally champion Sebastian Loeb could drive for Toro Rosso in the last Formula 1 race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Barcelona-born Alguersuari will join team-mate Sebastien Buemi, who until the Spaniard's arrival was the the only rookie driver racing in F1 this season.
"I am aware that I'm facing a very tough challenge, because coming into Formula 1 is never easy," said Alguersuari.
"Coming into Formula 1 in the middle of the season is even harder and doing so without any testing is really difficult.
"But already I feel I am getting great support from the team, who have quite a reputation for looking after rookie drivers."
Tost said Alguersuari was chosen to replace Bourdais because he was considered the "most mature" prospect in the young driver programme.
He added: "I do not expect anything from him for at least his first three races, during which he has to get used to the car, the team and to the F1 environment."
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Alguersuari joins Toro Rosso team
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Red Bull to change reserve driver
Red Bull and Toro Rosso are changing their reserve driver for the rest of the Formula 1 season.
Reigning British Formula 3 series champion Jaime Alguersuari replaces Brendon Hartley, who will continue racing in European F3.
Alguersuari, who is 19, will deputise if either team's first-choice drivers is unable to race.
The Spaniard's first race as reserve driver will be the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on 12 July. Red Bull will be keen to keep up their momentum from the most recent race, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished first and second, helping the team consolidate second place in the constructors' championship.
Vettel and Webber lie third and fourth in the drivers' championship behind Brawn duo Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, while Toro Rosso drivers Sebastian Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais are 14th and 16th respectively.
Ecclestone to consider Bulgaria
Bulgarian officials are to meet Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone next week to propose bringing F1 to the Balkan region.
The meeting is set to be held at the German Grand Prix from July 10 to 12, where it is expected the contents of an agreement for a future Bulgarian race will be discussed.
Bulgaria is hoping to stage its first F1 race in 2011, with a contract running through to 2015 including the option of an extension until 2020.
The Bulgarian Motorcycling Federation (BMF) announced in December it would put forward a bid to the FIA to land a grand prix.
Part of the plan would see a new circuit built near Pleven in northern Bulgaria, where a round of the World Rally Championship will take place in 2010.
In March, MotoGP's commercial rights holder, Dorna Sports, confirmed the series will arrive in Bulgaria from 2012 following a preliminary five-year agreement with the BMF, and the addition of F1 would make the country one of the leading players in international motorsport.
Grand prix organising committee chairman Rumen Petkov has admitted that the current state of the global economic climate will mean that Bulgaria's F1 bid is unlikely to receive financial support from the government.
However, he is confident of raising funds from other sources.
"Of course there are a variety of possibilities, but in the terms of the global and financial economic crisis, my opinion is that it is hard to believe that our state would be able to take the engagement," Petkov told Focus News.
"The key issue immediately after my return from the meeting with the president of Formula One Administration Bernie Ecclestone in Germany is to look for investors and chances for public-private partnership, because there is no doubt that the state is interested in such a prestigious and very profitable project."