Red Bull have promoted Antonio Felix da Costa to a reserve role for the Chinese Grand Prix, replacing regular reserve Sebastien Buemi who is competing in the Silverstone endurance event.
The 21-year-old Formula Renault 3.5 series driver has been under the watch of Red Bull for a number of years and took part in the young drivers test in 2012.
Prior to that he tested for Force India in 2010.
Many believe Da Costa is being lined up for a Toro Rosso seat in 2014, and current driver Jean-Eric Vergne agrees that such a move isn’t unlikely given he followed the same path – skipping GP2 which is the most common path for rookie drivers to land an F1 seat.
“I see no problems with that,” he said earlier this year. “That’s how it works at Red Bull.
“I’ve been in the same position. Antonio is a good driver.”