Red Bull junior talent likes to get back in the F1 car: 'Must go talk to Marko'

The Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi is over and that means the winter holiday really begins for Formula 1 teams. For Red Bull Racing Sebastien Buemi and Juri Vips came into action, both enjoying their F1 test.

Buemi surprised by Red Bull

Buemi has been part of the Red Bull programme for some time and even drove three seasons for Toro Rosso between 2009 and 2011. After that, however, the Swissman disappeared from F1 radar, despite three Le Mans 24 Hour victories and one Formula E title. The Swiss was therefore not expecting the test.

''I really enjoyed being back in the car and having a good day, so that was cool. It was good to do so many laps and I was happy to be back with the team. Hopefully, we can now have a good debriefing today, see what we've learned and transferred it to the simulator," said the man who has been at the start of an F1 race 55 times.

Debut for Vips

Someone who has not yet done so was Juri Vips. However, the youngest drove 101 laps and was faster than his experienced teammate who also ended up in the wall. ''It's just a shame the test really ended - I had a huge smile on my face all day! The car certainly lived up to expectations. I was a bit worried this morning about how it would go physically, especially over the neck, but we went through our whole programme: lots of miles and I'm just very happy with the experience.''

Red Bull's protégé didn't need much time to get used to it. ''Within two or three laps I felt confident in the car - he was very well balanced and he has a ridiculous amount of grip! When do I get back in the car? I don't know, I have to talk to Helmut (Marko) and Christian (Horner) - but if it were up to me, I would drive it every day!"