Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen to miss Silverstone test

Kimi Raikkonen

Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Team Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, who were scheduled to take part in this week’s Silverstone test, will no longer take part in it.

Red Bull have decided to let Daniel Ricciardo take Webber’s slot on Thursday afternoon. This means that the older Australian will not be able to test Pirelli’s revised tyres.

Lotus will hand over Kimi Raikkonen’s slot to their young driver Nicolas Prost, son of four-time World Champion Alain Prost.

The team decided that the Finn’s caliber would be under-utilized during the test.

Lotus’ trackside operations director said, “Once details of what race drivers were allowed to do here became apparent, we would have only been able to conduct a very limited programme with Kimi. If we were to run him, it would compromise the other development work we want to do with the car here.

By running Nico again we’ll be able to build on the work already carried out and hopefully be in the best position to develop the E21 ahead of Budapest, whilst also conducting the necessary tyre testing for Pirelli.”