According to firming reports, Perth lad Daniel Ricciardo is set to join the HRT F1 team from the British Grand Prix onwards, replacing Narain Karthikeyan. The smart money is still on a switch to the Toro Rosso outfit for 2012 (if not earlier), but there’s obviously some backroom dealings afoot to place the lanky West Aussie in the backmarking Spanish team to get his feet wet on the grid.
Ricciardo turns 22 on July 1, and he’ll be racing in his first F1 event a little over a week later at Silverstone. There’s no doubt he’s ready – he has been testing the front-running Red Bull car for the last couple of years, and he’s been getting regular Friday practice time all throughout this season with Toro Rosso, as well as racing in the GP2 class. It still appears that young Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari is barely hanging onto his Toro Rosso seat, but may now get another chance to prove his worth while Ricciardo finds his feet at the back of the grid.
Great news, we say! What do you guys think?