Interrupted day for Red Bull at Silverstone
Day Two of the Young Drivers’ Test saw Infiniti Red Bull Racing split its workload in two, with António Félix da Costa at the wheel of the RB9 in the morning and Daniel Ricciardo taking over in the afternoon for testing of Pirelli’s new specification tyres.
António Felix da Costa picked up where he left off yesterday and though he managed just 19 laps, the Portuguese driver was pleased with his day and half’s work with the team: “To drive the car for half of the three days of testing has been a fantastic opportunity,” he said. “It’s a good sign that the team believes I can carry such a heavy workload and get the job done. To be working with a world championship-winning team is the best learning experience you could have.”
Taking over in the afternoon, Daniel Ricciardo set about testing Pirelli’s tyres and working through the manufacturer’s programme.
Daniel Ricciardo: “It was good today but very busy, so it’s still a bit of a blur. I did quite a few laps this afternoon, so I’m happy with that. I had a small off but otherwise it was a trouble-free day. The off was my mistake, I just lost the rear on the entry. It was a good opportunity to get behind the wheel and experience two different beasts today. In terms of the inevitable speculation, I think this test is something for Red Bull to look at, but there’s still the rest of the season with Toro Rosso to do, so I’ll switch my focus back to that and won’t get too caught up in any rumours.”
Commenting on the day’s running Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum said: “The morning was a bit frustrating as we were late going out. We discovered a problem with the car last night and that set us back. Despite that we did get some good data and António was excellent throughout. As for the afternoon, Daniel had only about 45 minutes to swap over from his morning tyre test to driving our car, a completely different machine, but he was up to speed very quickly. As ever his feedback was exemplary and he gave us a lot of information to go through.”
