It is too early to name a frontrunner for a seat at Red Bull’s premier team.

That is the claim of Franz Tost, the boss of the energy drink company’s junior team Toro Rosso.

Following the ousting of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi, the Faenza based outfit has two new Red Bull youngsters to groom in 2012.

Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are therefore at the front of the queue to potentially replace Mark Webber at the senior team, even though Red Bull chiefs have appeared to indicate that Australian Webber is staying put for now.

So when asked by Austria’s Laola1 whether Ricciardo or Vergne are winning the race to Red Bull Racing so far, Tost insisted: “We have no thoughts about that.

“The important thing is that they continue to develop in every area.”

So far, Frenchman Vergne has four points compared with Ricciardo’s two.

“Jean-Eric is willing to take more risks,” Tost admitted, “while Daniel has a grasp of the car overall with his extra experience.”

More reports are suggesting Mark Webber could be Ferrari-bound.

One of Spain’s leading F1 correspondents, Raymond Blancafort, wrote in El Mundo Deportivo that “there may be a pre-contract” between the Maranello based team and Red Bull’s experienced Australian driver.

Webber, 35, was also linked with Ferrari last year, before Red Bull decided to sign him up for another single season alongside Sebastian Vettel.

He is now touted as Felipe Massa’s 2013 replacement, not only because of his “experience (and) the consistency of his results” but because “he gets along” with number one driver Fernando Alonso, Blancafort said.

Flavio Briatore also manages both Alonso and Webber.

Following Blancafort’s claims, Spain’s El Confidencial is now reporting similarly.

The publication said Webber has been earmarked as Alonso’s ideal teammate for 2013, perhaps pre-dating Sergio Perez’s move to the team in 2014 when the young Mexican has gathered another season of experience.

That may mean yet another single-season deal for Webber, but it might be better than what he is offered by Red Bull, given the energy drink-owned team’s grooming of youngsters Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso.

El Confidencial said Webber is also Spaniard Alonso’s first choice, with a source saying a deal has been “already reached but not signed”, possibly therefore in the form of a letter of intent.

 Rubens Barrichello on Saturday said it is “sad” another established formula one veteran, Jarno Trulli, has lost his race seat.
After 19 consecutive seasons, Barrichello is poised to switch to Indycar in 2012, while Trulli – who made his debut in 1997 and is a Monaco grand prix winner – has lost his seat to Vitaly Petrov.

“Money is dominating everything,” said Barrichello, with Caterham even admitting that the “global economic market” influenced the decision to replace Trulli with the well-backed Russian.

And with F1 now not boasting an Italian driver for the first time since the end of the 60s, Trulli lamented that no one is poised to succeed him.

“During a crisis as we have in our country, I can’t see how a youngster can find the help needed to be considered by any team,” he told the Ansa news agency.

“I knew of the difficult economic situation that would force the (Caterham) team to look for a driver with adequate backing,” added the 37-year-old.

Also lamenting the new dearth of Italian drivers, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali admitted: “It’s a difficult moment for our sport, partly for external reasons.”

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said former Lotus driver Petrov is bringing a “double digit” sum in the millions to Caterham for Trulli’s 2012 seat.

Dario Franchitti insists he has no regrets despite never adding success in formula one to his list of career achievements.
The famous Scot, whose wife is the Hollywood actor Ashley Judd, is the cousin of impressive Force India youngster Paul di Resta.

Last week, 38-year-old Franchitti joined his family member at the Jerez test.

The four-time Indycar champion and double Indy 500 winner was asked by Sky Sports if, despite flirting with Jaguar at the beginning of last decade, he regrets not having made it to F1.

“You can live your life thinking ‘I wish I’d done this, I wish I’d done that’,” he answered.

“It would have been great to race in formula one at some point, but when the chances were there I didn’t take them; I didn’t feel that they were better than the opportunities I had in America.”

Added Franchitti: “I made the decisions I made, I’m delighted I won a couple of Indy 500s and the four championships, so I wouldn’t change that for that world.”

He is hopeful, but Jean-Eric Vergne insists he is still not sure if he will make his grand prix debut with Toro Rosso next year.
With his World Series season now concluded, the reigning British F3 champion recently began a new role as the Faenza based team’s Friday practice driver.

The heavily Red Bull-backed youngster is sitting out India because the circuit is new, but will be back in action in Abu Dhabi and Brazil next month.

Frenchman Vergne, 21, said recently he expects to replace either Jaime Alguersuari or Sebastien Buemi in 2012.

Before that, he will drive Red Bull’s title-winning car throughout the Abu Dhabi young driver test.

In France this weekend, he now tells the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur: “I must concentrate on my work, not paying attention to what is being said.

“Anyway, I don’t know anything about next season yet. The decision will be taken after Brazil,” said Vergne. “There is still time.”

Mark Webber had already signed his new contract for 2012 before the summer speculation stepped into its highest gear.
Throughout the August shutdown, it was not certain whether the Australian would be staying alongside Sebastian Vettel next year, or giving way to a youngster like Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi.

In fact, Blick newspaper said Swiss Buemi was “disappointed” with Saturday’s official news because he had “secretly expected” Webber’s seat.

But birthday boy Webber, 35, said he has known about 2012 for weeks.

“(It was) signed not long ago, I think it was the last race (Hungary), actually, on the Sunday,” he said after qualifying third at Spa.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted Webber is once again guaranteed equality with Vettel in the new deal.

Webber, meanwhile, was asked whether it is his preference to always sign one-year deals, or the team’s.

“Little bit of both, I think,” he answered. “The one year extensions are not too bad for me, and also I think it suits them as well. Bit of 50-50.”

To many in F1 circles, Bertrand Gachot is arguably best known for vacating his Jordan seat in 1991 for a then unknown youngster by the name of Michael Schumacher.
Just before Schumacher’s meteoric F1 debut 20 years ago, Gachot was jailed in England for spraying a taxi driver with CS gas some eight months earlier.

“The taxi thing happened in December (1990),” Gachot, who now manages his energy drink company Hype, told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

“Eight months later, in August 1991, I was summoned to court. The lawyers told me it’s a small thing.”

It was the week before the Spa-Francorchamps race, but the judge refused to release the French-Belgian driver even on a multi-million pound bond.

“I was a danger to the English population,” he marvelled. “Eight months later!

“I was sentenced to two years in prison and I had to serve two months. And because the gas was considered a weapon, they put me in a cell with a murderer.”

It was, however, good news for Eddie Jordan, who had already collected from Gachot’s sponsors in 1991 and was now receiving $160,000 from Mercedes for the one-off Schumacher debut.

Gachot doesn’t directly accuse Jordan of pushing the CS gas case to court in order to collect more sponsorship money.

“I don’t want to put that name in my mouth. I don’t mean Michael, who is a great guy, a great racer. My bad luck was his good fortune. His career might have been very different if I had not gone to prison.”

Franz Tost has confirmed reports that French youngster Jean-Eric Vergne is set to rev up his formula one career with Toro Rosso.

It emerged earlier this weekend that the 21-year-old is set to drive the STR6 on Friday mornings once the Renault World Series wraps up in October.

Alongside Daniel Ricciardo, Vergne is the new cream of Red Bull’s driver development programme, putting pressure on the current Toro Rosso lineup comprising Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

The second Red Bull team’s boss Tost confirmed Vergne’s forthcoming Friday programme to autohebdo.fr.

“It’s a chance for him to come on board to develop his experience of F1, to know our team, to work with the press, gain knowledge of the technical aspects — everything he needs to know about being a formula one driver,” said the Austrian.

Red Bull will not decide Toro Rosso’s 2012 driver lineup until after the current season.

“We will only decide who is driving with Toro Rosso next year after this season,” confirmed consultant Dr Helmut Marko to the Swiss newspaper Blick.

Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean on Saturday moved another step towards his return to formula one by sealing the GP2 title at Spa-Francorchamps.

“Now that we are champions, I will have a look at what is going on upstairs (F1), but at the moment, my main concern is to find a good contract for 2012 and nothing else,” he said.

Jaime Alguersuari is back in favour at Toro Rosso, according to the Spanish press.
Very recently, the 21-year-old was heavily tipped to make way at the Red Bull junior team for Daniel Ricciardo.

But the Spaniard Alguersuari then achieved consecutive points finishes in Canada and Valencia, reportedly spurring Red Bull’s driver manager Helmut Marko to instead find a place at HRT for Ricciardo’s mid-season debut.

At Toro Rosso, Alguersuari is now fully back in favour, with a third consecutive points finish at Silverstone compounding his new status.

According to Spanish sports daily AS, Marko and Alguersuari had a friendly wager before the British grand prix.

“If you score tomorrow (Sunday), I’ll pay you double for the points you score, but if you don’t, you give me a case of my favourite Spanish wine,” Marko reportedly told the youngster.

It is believed Alguersuari still intends to buy Marko the wine.

Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 race debut is due to a “collaboration deal” with world champion team Red Bull Racing, the Spanish team HRT has revealed.

The Australian rookie, 22 on Friday, will switch from being Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso’s Friday driver to a full race cockpit at Silverstone next weekend.

It was believed that a Toro Rosso driver would be moved aside this mid-season for Ricciardo’s debut, but both Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi have impressed sufficiently to stay with the Faenza based team for now.

Hispania is therefore Red Bull’s plan B.

“This agreement is a reward for all the hard work Hispania has shown since we started in formula one,” said team owner Jose Ramon Carabante.

“We’re proud that the formula one world champion team has trusted us in their effort of developing their drivers. Let’s hope that this is just the start of a fruitful relationship.”

It is believed that Narain Karthikeyan will sit out Silverstone, but HRT is yet to formally announce Ricciardo’s teammate for the British grand prix.

Indeed, the Spanish team said both Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi remain “official drivers” for 2011, with sources telling the media that Karthikeyan will be in the cockpit for the inaugural Indian grand prix in October.

Red Bull, meanwhile, confirmed that Ricciardo will split his new F1 racing duties with his season in the Formula Renault 3.5 series.

But he will not be able to continue driving for Toro Rosso on Fridays, causing French commentator Jean-Louis Moncet to speculate that Red Bull’s next up-and-coming youngster Jean-Eric Vergne will take over that role.

Jenson Button is refusing to rule out a future move to Ferrari, despite saying recently he wants to close his formula one career at McLaren.
The 31-year-old has raced at McLaren alongside Lewis Hamilton since winning the 2009 title with Brawn.

He is under contract until the end of next year and admitted in Monaco that his three target teams as a youngster were Williams, McLaren and Ferrari.

“I’ve got to drive for two of them, which is great, which as an eight-year-old kid I didn’t expect to do.

“As a kid you are very excited about racing for the red team,” he is quoted as saying by the Guardian.

“Ferrari is obviously a team I haven’t raced for. I’ve won the world championship and I would love to win the world championship again,” added Button.

The 9-time grand prix winner said recently he would like to finish his career at McLaren, but he now insists: “I don’t even know what I’m doing tomorrow. I don’t plan too far ahead.”

With Fernando Alonso signed up through 2016, the hypothetical seat to be taken by Button is currently occupied by Felipe Massa.

Asked if he can imagine pairing with the feisty Spaniard, Button answered: “It’s not teammates I’m afraid of, at all. I love the challenge of teammates.

“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and it’s interesting to work them out. But I don’t know what will happen in the future.”

Daniel Ricciardo has been appointed Toro Rosso’s reserve and ‘Friday’ driver for the 2011 season.

The 21-year-old will alternate between the cockpits of the Italian team’s regular drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi in the initial practice session at grands prix next year.

“I have to say thanks to Red Bull for this great opportunity,” said the Australian in a statement.

Ricciardo is now the leading driver of Red Bull’s junior driver programme, and comfortably led the pace at the recent young driver test at the wheel of the title-winning RB6 in Abu Dhabi.

“I am sure that having a hungry youngster on the books will keep our current driver pairing nice and sharp,” said Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost.

Ricciardo will also contest the Formula Renault 3.5 championship in 2011.

“My ultimate aim is to be a full time formula one driver and this new role has to be the best step toward achieving that ambition,” he said.

HRT could be an alternative employer for Pedro de la Rosa, who has been ousted as race driver by Sauber.

Sports newspaper Diario AS said the struggling Spanish team Hispania “would like to have a high quality driver like Pedro as teammate for Bruno Senna”.

The report, confirming that a technical deal with Toyota has been reached and that Spanish youngster Javier Villa is also a driver option, said HRT would be a possible avenue for 39-year-old de la Rosa in 2011.

Another Spanish source, f1aldia.com, said de la Rosa met with HRT team owner Jose Ramon Carabante in the Monza paddock last weekend.

“I have spoken with Pedro de la Rosa,” Carabante confirmed.

He also sounded bullish about the team’s future.

“We will, for sure, complete this season. We are going well and working hard on next year,” added Carabante.

Sebastian Vettel is making the same sorts of mistakes seen in Lewis Hamilton’s early career, according to triple world champion and pundit Niki Lauda.

“Sebastian is very fast but he needs time to learn not to make so many mistakes,” the Austrian is quoted in an interview with Spain’s El Pais.

Asked whether the Red Bull youngster’s mistakes can be compared with Hamilton’s a few years ago, Lauda answered: “Perhaps, but now Hamilton has matured a lot and makes not many mistakes despite being incredibly aggressive.

“Today, Lewis is far more complete.”

Lauda thinks Vettel, but particularly Mark Webber, has the best chance of winning the 2010 title.

“Red Bull has had many ruined races, especially with Sebastian, but their car is the best and they’re the team to beat.

“McLaren has been too inconsistent, Ferrari as well.”

Lauda also said he rates Fernando Alonso very highly, despite recently being embroiled in an argument with Ferrari after issuing some critical comments.

“I don’t have a problem with him at all. First, from my point of view, he is the best driver currently in F1. There’s no-one like him — not Vettel, or Hamilton, or any of the others.

“The only criticisms I’ve had is when he was at McLaren, and now with the team orders at Ferrari.

“You can’t do what he did after Germany — when he came out and said he knew nothing about what happened on the track.

“He tried to convince people that he had no idea what his team had done from the pitwall. That’s all I’ve criticised,” explained Lauda.

Red Bull are set to canter to the 2010 world championships, according to Gerhard Berger.

The 10-time grand prix winner, friend and Austrian countryman of the team’s billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz, said the Adrian Newey-penned RB6 is in a league of its own.

“For some reason, Sundays just don’t work out right for me,” said Sebastian Vettel, after Bild am Sonntag ran an article pointing out how many more points the German youngster should have collected at grands prix so far in 2010.

Said Berger: “They can make many mistakes and still be in front.”

Indeed, Red Bull is currently leading the constructors’ championship from McLaren, while Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber is ahead in the drivers’ chase.

Berger praises the Milton Keynes based team’s technical chief Newey.

“Aerodynamics are now the lifeblood of a F1 car. This is why I see them (Red Bull) being at the front for the next few years,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

“I always advised Mateschitz to go for Newey. At first I was a bit nervous because it didn’t immediately work out; I think at the start he (Newey) was too distracted with management matters.

“Since he has concentrated on his specialty, he has shown he is in a class of one,” added Berger.