Jan.6 (GMM) Speculation that Toro Rosso will not give its second race seat for 2010 to Jamie Alguersuari is intensifying.
It is now rumoured that the most likely to replace the teenaged Spaniard is yet another teenager, the Italian Mirko Bortolotti, who turns 20 in a few days.
He tested with the Faenza based team at the recent young driver session at Jerez, and made headlines last winter when he broke the Fiorano lap record while testing with Ferrari.
He finished the 2009 F2 championship in fourth place.
Interestingly, while part of Red Bull’s Junior Team last year, the Italian is not yet listed in the energy drink company’s driver development scheme for 2010, while others including Brendon Hartley and Daniel Ricciardo are.
Bortolotti is Italian, but he grew up in Austria, the home nation of Toro Rosso decision-makers Dietrich Mateschitz and his right-hand motor racing man, Dr Helmut Marko.
“We do not yet know exactly what we are going to do with Bortolotti in 2010,” Marko admitted in an interview with laola1.at.
