According to *Auto Motor und Sport*, Helmut Marko, head of the Red Bull program, is considering placing one of his drivers in a Caterham seat for 2012, with Jean-Eric Vergne at the forefront: \u00ab Red Bull could place one of its rookies, Ricciardo or Vergne, with Lotus \u00bb thus assures the German newspaper.<\/p>\n
Red Bull, which has four contenders for a seat at Toro Rosso for 2012, had already reached a similar agreement with HRT, which hosts \u2013 with financial compensation \u2013 the young and promising Daniel Ricciardo, since the British Grand Prix. However, Helmut Marko, who recently stated he was not sure the agreement would be extended to 2012, is considering promoting Daniel Ricciardo to Toro Rosso and finding a similar agreement with Tony Fernandes’ Caterham team \u2013 currently Team Lotus \u2013 to place Jean-Eric Vergne, who impressed during recent tests conducted on behalf of the Red Bull team, in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
However, the Malaysian team has two drivers under contract for 2012, but while Heikki Kovalainen’s position seems set in stone, Jarno Trulli’s appears to be on shaky ground. Indeed, just a few weeks ago, the name of Charles Pic was being mentioned as a potential replacement for the Italian driver, prompting his manager, Lucio Cavuto, to respond: \u00ab Jarno’s position for 2012 is not up for discussion since he signed an agreement [last September]. \u00bb<\/p>\n
However, according to the site 422race.com, the Team Lotus driver’s seat, not only coveted by Red Bull, is also being eyed by J\u00e9r\u00f4me d’Ambrosio, Davide Valsecchi, and even by Giedo van der Garde, who would bring nearly 8 million euros in sponsorship.<\/p>\n
In addition to being able to finance the seat, Red Bull has another significant advantage since the two teams have also become technical partners, sharing not only the Viry-Ch\u00e2tillon engine block but also the KERS system developed by the Austrian team. The French driver could also benefit from Renault’s support, as Tony Fernandes met with Carlos Ghosn today, who had assured a few weeks ago that he always mentions to all teams that having a French driver at the wheel would be very well received by Renault.<\/p>\n
One thing is certain for Auto Motor und Sport<\/i>: Red Bull will give the Frenchman a seat next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After placing Daniel Ricciardo with HRT, Red Bull is reportedly looking to place Jean-Eric Vergne with Caterham to allow him to gain experience in Formula One.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":41363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[678,1664],"class_list":["post-20546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-trulli","tag-vergne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n