HRT replaces Karthikeyan
2011-07-01 08:10
STRUGGLING: HRT has failed to make much of an impression during the 2011 F1 season.
Author: Alan Baldwin
LONDON, England - Formula 1 tail-endes Hispania (HRT) has given Australian Daniel Ricciardo a dream 22nd birthday present - a race debut at Silverstone in place of India's Narain Karthikeyan.
The Spain-based team said in a statement that Ricciardo, whose birthday is on July 1, was joining as an official driver in a collaboration deal with world champion Red Bull Racing.
"Ricciardo... will finally see his dream come true and become a Formula 1 race-driver starting from the 2011 British Grand Prix," HRT said.
'DREAM COME TRUE'
Karthikeyan, the only Indian F1 driver to score points and the only one on the grid this season, remains an official driver along with Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and would be back behind the wheel for his country's inaugural GP in New Delhi in October.
Ricciardo, who has driven in Friday practice sessions as reserve for Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso, said: "It's a dream come true - my first time on an F1 grid. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to be sure that it's real!
"I'm excited and can hardly wait to drive at Silverstone. It's a new challenge, a new experience, a new team, but I'm ready and will give of my best."
The youngster will be very much in the shadow of Australia's other driver on the grid; Red Bull's Mark Webber will be gunning for his second British GP win in a row.
TIPPED FOR FULL DRIVE
Just getting to the finish will by an achievement for Ricciardo, whose new team has yet to score a point since its debut in 2010. Karthikeyan was in a comeback season after racing for Jordan in 2005, where he finished fourth in the infamous US GP that started with just six cars.
Ricciardo has been tipped to get a full race drive with Toro Rosso 2012, possibly even Red Bull if Webber moves on or retires.
Team principal Franz Tost said: "He should learn the team, all the race tracks, to work together with the engineers, get a little bit of knowledge about how the media work, about the marketing and this should be the preparation for him to race for Toro Rosso in 2012,"
The highly-rated Australian youngster was British F3 champion in 2009 and has impressed with his Friday performances.
Many in the paddock had expected the Australian to replace Jaime Alguersuari at Toro Rosso before the end of the season but the Spaniard has scored eight points in his last two races.
SECOND DROPPED INDIAN
Liuzzi, who also drove for Toro Rosso and Red Bull, will provide a good benchmark by which to measure Ricciardo's talent.
HRT principal Colin Kolles said: "I'm happy to welcome Daniel to the team. I'm glad the team managed to conclude this deal."
It will be the second year in a row that HRT has dropped an Indian driver and second time it has rung the changes for Silverstone.
In 2010 the team drafted in Japan's Sakon Yamamoto in place of Brazilian Bruno Senna and made several further changes through the rest of the season with Indian Karun Chandhok dropped at the following race in Germany.
