Another Russian driver moves closer to an F1 seat - MotorSportsTalk

The prospects of Russian drivers having a presence in F1 again is improving ahead of the country’s inaugural race next year.

Yesterday Sauber announced it was bringing Sergey Sirotkin into its Young Driver Program and suggested he could race for the team as early as next year.

Now Toro Rosso have announced they are giving a test to another young Russian racer: Daniil Kvyat, who is part of Red Bull’s young driver program.

Kvyat, a 19-year-old from the Republic of Bashkortostan who speaks four languages, is racing in the F1-supporting GP3 championship and the FIA’s European Formula Three series this year. Last year he won the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS championship and finished as runner-up to McLaren young driver Stoffel Vandoorne in the European series.

Kvyat will drive the STR8 on Friday afternoon. Another Red Bull junior team member, Carlos Sainz Jnr, will also have a run in the car, as will Venezuelan GP2 driver Johnny Cecotto Jnr. The team’s race drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne will also be on hand to test Pirelli’s new tires for the next race.

Sainz will also test for Red Bull as well as another of their young test drivers, Antonio Felix da Costa.

Meanwhile Force India have announced they will give a test to British GP2 driver James Calado as well as running both their race drivers.

The NBC Sports IndyCar power rankings naturally were as jumbled as the action on the streets of St. Petersburg after a chaotic opener to the 2023 season.

Pato O’Ward, who finished second because of an engine blip that cost him the lead with a few laps remaining, moves into the top spot ahead of St. Pete winner Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi, who finished fourth in his Arrow McLaren debut. Scott Dixon and St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who led 31 laps) rounded out the top five.

St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who started first at St. Pete after capturing his second career pole position) Callum Ilott (a career-best fifth) and Graham Rahal entered the power rankings entering the season’s second race.

Three drivers fell out of the preseason top 10 after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – including previously top-ranked Josef Newgarden, who finished 17^th after qualifying 14^th.

Heading into Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, here’s NBC Sports’ assessment of the current top 10 drivers through the first of 17 races this year (with previous preseason rankings in parenthesis):

NBC Sports’ IndyCar Power Rankings

1. Pato O’Ward (5) – If not for the dreaded “plenum event” in the No. 5 Chevrolet, the Arrow McLaren driver is opening the season with a victory capping a strong race weekend.

2. Marcus Ericsson (7) – He might be the most opportunistic driver in IndyCar, but that’s because the 2022 Indy 500 winner has become one of the series’ fastest and most consistent stars.

3. Alexander Rossi (10) – He overcame a frustrating Friday and mediocre qualifying to open his Arrow McLaren career with the sort of hard-earned top five missing in his last years at Andretti.

4. Scott Dixon (3) – Put aside his opening-lap skirmish with former teammate Felix Rosenqvist, and it was a typically stealthily good result for the six-time champion.

5. Romain Grosjean (NR) – The St. Petersburg pole-sitter consistently was fastest on the streets of St. Petersburg over the course of the race weekend, which he couldn’t say once last year.

6. Scott McLaughlin (6) – Easily the best of the Team Penske drivers before his crash with Grosjean, McLaughlin drove like a legitimate 2023 championship contender.

7. Callum Ilott (NR) – A quietly impressive top five for the confident Brit in Juncos Hollinger Racing’s first race as a two-car team. Texas will be a big oval litmus test.

8. Graham Rahal (NR) – Sixth at St. Pete, Rahal still has the goods on street courses, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan remains headed in the right direction.

9. Alex Palou (4) – He seemed a step behind Ericsson and Dixon in the race after just missing the Fast Six in qualifying, but this was a solid start for Palou.

10. Will Power (2) – An uncharacteristic mistake that crashed Colton Herta put a blemish on the type of steady weekend that helped him win the 2022 title.

Falling out (last week): Josef Newgarden (1), Colton Herta (8), Christian Lundgaard (9)