Lotus F1 Team Announces 2013 Young Driver Test Lineup

Nicolas Prost, Davide Valsecchi and Kimi Raikkonen will drive for Lotus F1 Team during next weeks adapted Young Driver Test at Silverstone on July 17 -19.

The testoriginally intended solely for young drivers, but adapted to allow race drivers to test Pirellis new tyreswill see Development Driver Nicolas Prost drive on Wednesday, followed by Third Driver Davide Valsecchi on Thursday, with Kimi Rikknen bringing the test to a conclusion on Friday.

Both Nicolas and Davide have previously driven the teams 2012 Formula 1 carthe E20at last years Young Driver Test, whilst Davide has also taken the wheel of the current modelthe E21for half a days running during 2013 pre-season testing.

Eric Boullier, Team PrincipalIts great timing for us to have this seasons Young Driver Test scheduled in the middle of the year as it allows us to evaluate more of the new parts we have for the E21 as the championship battle intensifies. Remarkably, the UK has been having some notably good weather recently so were looking forward to getting some good running across the three days. By running Nicolas and Davide we are giving them both invaluable experience and also gaining great feedback, as weve previously seen what they can do in the car and appreciate the valuable information they give us. Its also a fabulous second opportunity for all Formula 1 fans to come and see the teams in action at Silverstone.

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations DirectorThis will be an interesting test and we have a lot planned across the three days. Obviously we want to give all three drivers the maximum track time possible as well as assessing the latest upgrades to the car. Our aim on the third day will be to help Pirelli understand the latest changes to their tyres at the same venue where they most notably had issues this season. For Nico and Davide its an opportunity to learn and improve, while for the team it is a great opportunity to try to refine some of the latest developments we have for the E21. Kimi is also allowed to run, enabling him and other race drivers to test tyres for Pirelli. This will benefit both him and Romain by granting us a better understanding of these tyres before we head to the next event in Hungary.

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