Finally after a long wait, Daniel Ricciardo knows for sure what he will be doing next season. The past two weeks have been spent in much anticipation and suspense for the driver but only today was he relieved to hear the announcement
that he will be Toro Rosso’s reserve driver for 2011.
Toro Rosso is the junior team of Red Bull, the Austrian beverages company. The team’s management announced that it would expand his role with the team next season by allowing him to appear in all of the first 20 practice sessions.
The 21-year-old Australian racer has also spent the 2010 season with the energy drinks’ firm being the reserve driver for both company owned teams, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso.
The two days’ test session in Abu Dhabi last week has seen the driver perform brilliantly. Both days at the Young Drivers’ Test were topped by Ricciardo, which has helped him secure his new role with Red Bull.
Toro Rosso has also confirmed its drivers’ line up for next season as Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, last season’s driving duo, will continue racing for the team in 2011. In addition to this, the team also stated to the
press that the young driver is going to replace each of the team’s drivers in turn during all of the first practice sessions next season.
The team boss of Toro Rosso, Franz Tost while talking to journalists said, "When our team was created [in 2006], its stated aim was to bring on young drivers from the Red Bull Junior Programme, so Daniel's appointment as our third
driver is an obvious one.”
He further commented on the last season’s British F3 Champion, saying “Although Daniel Ricciardo has done some F1 testing already, running on Fridays at the Grands Prix will give him a valuable insight into the additional pressures
of doing it for real during a race weekend.”
The Austrian is also of the view that having a hungry youngster like Ricciardo in the team will make both the other drivers strive harder and better.
Following the announcement, Ricciardo came forward to thank Red Bull for letting him become a part of the Austrian squad and for providing him with another opportunity to keep climbing the Formula One ladder.
The driver will also keep racing with the Formula Renault 3.5 series where he has performed brilliantly this season as well. He wrapped up the 2010 season in 2nd place in the series.
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