Red Bull Racing is to maintain its recent policy of rewarding promising performances from its development programme drivers with a
Formula One outing, after confirming that British F3 pacesetter Jaime Alguersuari will help out with a forthcoming test.
Following in the footsteps of both Canada's Robert Wickens and Kiwi Brendan Hartley - against whom he competes in the UK F3 series - Alguersuari will get to drive one of the current-spec RB4-Renaults when RBR conducts straight-line aero testing at the Idiada Proving Ground in Spain next weekend. The opportunity has arisen due to the timing of the test, when both
David Coulthard and
Mark Webber will be involved in the Turkish Grand Prix and nominated test and reserve driver Sebastien Buemi will be similarly engaged on GP2 Series duty in Istanbul.
Alguersuari, who has just turned 18, currently lies third in the British F3 Championship, having taken one win in the opening two rounds for Carlin Motorsport. Last year, he finished second in the Italian Formula
Renault series and fifth in the European equivalent. The son of World Series by Nissan founder Jaime Sr has also recently been nominated for Spain's prestigious Gillette Future Champion Award.
Hartley, who contrived to collide with his Red Bull stablemate at the opening F3 round of the year at
Oulton Park, was used by RBR sister team
Scuderia Toro Rosso to give its 2008 challenger a first shakedown at Varano in Italy earlier this month.
