Valsecchi Tipped for F1 Debut by HRT Boss

Here's a name that didn't come off very often in the motor racing media in recent weeks. Italy's Davide Valsecchi, the reigning GP2 Asia champion, is tipped to make his Formula One debut as soon as possible. And it's not the press to rumor on it, but the very team principal of Hispania Racing F1 Team, Colin Kolles.

During the recent rookie test session in Abu Dhabi, Valsecchi impressed the hell out of HRT's boss. And Kolles had every reason to praise the Italian racer, as he scored the fastest lap times at the wheel of any of the cars belonging to F1's newly entries, such as the ones driven by Jerome d'Ambrosio, Rio Haryanto and Luiz Razia (for Virgin Racing), and Rodolfo Gonzalez and Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Lotus F1 Team).

“Italy should support him,” Kolles was quoted as saying by Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport. “He definitely did an awesome job. It took him a few laps to understand the car, while some of his colleagues did not succeed even after a full season.”

In addition to his fast times – which saw him top not only the aforementioned drivers, but also the other two racers tested by HRT F1, Pastor Maldonado and Josef Kral – Valsecchi also lapped the Yas Marina Circuit some two seconds faster than regular driver Bruno Senna did last Saturday, during the qualifying session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

After winning his first GP2 Asia title in career last winter, Valsecchi competed for a 3rd straight season in the Main Series, with iSport International. He recorded one win and one pole position through 20 races this season and eventually finished 8th overall, a personal best in F1's feeder championship.

Valsecchi's step into F1 might be postponed due to lack of sponsorship however. While the GP2 driver brought nothing (financially speaking) to the table this week, during the rookie test, Pastor Maldonado's sponsors poured into HRT F1's accounts no less than EUR1 million for the 3-day session only, while Kral's outing cost the Czech racer some EUR300,000.