No sooner has one Red Bull-backed driver graduated from the World Series by Renault to join the F1 field than another is being promoted to get a taste of the senior feeder series, following confirmation that British F3 Championship leader Daniel Ricciardo will debut next weekend in Portugal.

The Australian will stand in for Red Bull stablemate Brendon Hartley alongside Silverstone race winner Charles Pic at Tech 1 Racing, as the Kiwi again has F3 Euroseries commitments that take precedence. Ricciardo finished as runner-up in last year's Formula Renault Eurocup, and won the secondary West European Cup, before moving up to F3 with the crack Carlin squad. Like Hartley, the Australian will find himself in opposition to his regular employer when he makes his WSbR bow.

Although Hartley may be absent, Ricciardo will find familiar faces on the grid as Carlin team-mates Jaime Alguersuari and Oliver Turvey will be back in action, despite the Spaniard's rise to F1 status at the Hungaroring this weekend.

Also heading for Portugal from Budapest will be Michael Herck and Dani Clos, who will swap GP2 seats at DPR and Racing Engineering for WSbR returns to Interwetten.com and Epsilon Euskadi respectively in search of track time ahead of the GP2 Series finale.