Fresh face for F1

Spanish teenager Jaime Alguersuari will become the youngest driver to race in Formula One this weekend after Toro Rosso named him as replacement for the sacked Sebastien Bourdais.

The Barcelona-born driver, born on March 23, 1990, will make his race debut at Budapest's Hungaroring on Sunday at the age of 19 years and 125 days.

The previous youngest driver was New Zealand's Mike Thackwell, who entered the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix with Tyrrell aged 19 and 183 days.

"I do not expect anything from him for at least his first three races, during which he has to get used to the car, the team and to the Formula One environment," said team principal Franz Tost.

"Red Bull's stated aim for Scuderia Toro Rosso is that, when possible, it should be used to provide a seat for products of its Young Driver Programme," he added.

"We therefore chose Alguersuari as the most mature driver currently in the programme."

Alguersuari last year became the youngest champion in the British Formula Three series with Carlin Motorsport and was this month appointed test driver for both Red Bull teams. He joined the Red Bull junior team at the age of 15.

"I am aware that I'm facing a very tough challenge, because coming into Formula One is never easy, coming into Formula One in the middle of a season is even harder and doing so without any testing is really difficult," said Alguersuari.

"But already I feel that I am getting great support from the team, who have quite a reputation for looking after rookie drivers."

Alguersuari's team-mate will be Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi, who has scored three points from his first nine races and out-performed the 30-year-old Frenchman Bourdais.

Bourdais, the four times Champ Car champion who was in his second Formula One season, was sacked last week for failing to make the grade and has already threatened legal action for breach of contract.

While Thackwell is currently the youngest to start a race, Germany's Sebastian Vettel holds the records for youngest to start a practice session at a grand prix weekend as well as being youngest points scorer, pole-setter and race winner.

The 22-year-old, who won the British Grand Prix last month and is now a championship contender with Red Bull, took part in a Friday session for BMW-Sauber at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix aged 19 years and 53 days. Thackwell's record is contentious, since the New Zealander was involved in a first lap accident on his debut in Montreal and did not make the restart.

Meanwhile, Renault's double world champion – and Alguersuari's Spanish compatriot – Fernando Alonso took his first race win in Hungary six years ago and has been growing in confidence since leaving Germany's Nürburgring with the fastest lap two weeks ago.

"We have definitely improved," said Alonso. "The latest upgrades made us much more competitive."

The Spaniard's old McLaren team-mate – and reigning world champion – Lewis Hamilton is also tipped to get a result this weekend after a disappointing season so far.

"We always go for the victory, but we've not always got the equipment to do so," said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh after the last race. "I think hopefully [in Hungary] we will have the equipment to really go for it."

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