Red Bull hands protégés reserve roles

Date published : 26 Jan 2010 - 09:52:17

Red Bull protégés Daniel Ricciardo and Brendon Hartley will share reserve driver duties for the energy drink firm's two Formula 1 teams in the new season.The rising 20-year-old stars, who hail from Australia and New Zealand respectively, featured prominently in F1's young driver tests before Christmas and will alternate the third driver position for both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso at each of the season's 19 grands prix.Hartley already has experience in the role having fulfilled it for four grand prix weekends in the first half of last season, while reigning British F3 champion Ricciardo lands the joint position after a hugely impressive performance for RBR at Jerez in December when he topped the final day times by a massive 1.3s.The Red Bull junior pair will sit in on the briefings and debriefs when in the reserve driver role over race weekends, while also attending driver meetings and familiarising themselves with the workings of the garage and pit wall.Both will dovetail the F1 reserve driver role with drives in Formula Renault 3.5, where they will be team-mates at the Tech 1 team.