Antonio Felix da Costa reserve driver for Red Bull in China
In China, the Red Bull reserve driver will be the Portuguese Antonio Felix da Costa. The participant in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship will take the place of Sébastien Buemi on this occasion, as the latter is occupied at Silverstone for the opening of the FIA WEC endurance championship.
The Red Bull team is known for having launched a significant number of young drivers in the big pool of Formula 1. Scott Speed, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Christian Klien, Robert Doornbos, Jaime Alguersuari, Sébastien Buemi, or more recently Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, have all been part of the Austrian company’s program, at Red Bull or Toro Rosso.
Many of them, however, are no longer present in the discipline or are no longer starters, like Sébastien Buemi, who has been a Red Bull reserve driver since 2012. Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Swiss has joined the FIA WEC touring championship this season, driving a Toyota prototype.
The opening race of this championship, scheduled for this weekend at the Silverstone circuit in England, will therefore prevent him from being present with Red Bull in China. To make up for this absence, the Austrian team has called upon Antonio Felix da Costa, who won last week at Monza and is currently third in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship.
A promotion that, even if it is only temporary, puts significant pressure on the two Toro Rosso drivers, Ricciardo and Vergne, whose seats are obviously coveted by the young Felix da Costa.
