Testing to begin at Silverstone

The Silverstone circuit will once again witness the scream of Formula One cars as testing begins on Wednesday.

The upcoming young driver test at Silverstone will be a three-day test session with a twist.

Following on from the tyre failures which marred the British Grand Prix, the FIA will be allowing Formula One race drivers to also take part, as long as their running is limited to testing Pirelli’s revised tyres.

Pirelli are bringing revised tyres to the track and giving all the Formula One teams with the exception of Mercedes, who are banned from taking part following their illegal tyre test session in May, the chance to complete some running time on the tyres.

The tyres are based around the 2012-specification construction but with the 2013 soft, medium and hard compounds. Car set-ups have to be based around tyre testing and not car performance.

The Lotus team have announced that three drivers will take part in the test for them with Nicolas Prost in the car on Wednesday, Davide Valsecchi on Thursday with Kimi Raikkonen completing the test session on Friday.

?Obviously we want to give all three drivers the maximum track time possible as well as assessing the latest upgrades to the car. Our aim on the third day will be to help Pirelli understand the latest changes to their tyres at the same venue where they most notably had issues this season. Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane told formula1.com.

The Williams team have also announced their three drivers who will take part in the test, 22-year-old Spaniard and 2012 Formula 3 Euro Series Champion Daniel Juncadella will drive the car on Wednesday.

Pastor Maldonado will then take over on Thursday, before British female driver Susie Wolff will complete her first test session in Formula One.

The former DTM driver is looking forward to the experience on her home track: ?It?s a fantastic opportunity for me, so now it is up to me to prepare myself the best that I can for the day, It?s going to be a big challenge but the most important thing is to do a solid and consistent job and to give good feedback to the team to be able to prove I am at the level to compete on a day such as this.

?Most of my work is based in the simulator which is why this day is so important for me. It will give me a better understanding of what the car is like on track and how that correlates to the simulator which will also help further develop the work I can do there.?

Sauber have announced that they will be taking a different approach to testing, they to will also be using three drivers, but their time will not be split equally across the three days.

2012 Formula Renault 3.5 World Series champion Robin Frijns will test all day Wednesday and on Thursday morning, before handing the car over to Nico Hulkenberg on Thursday afternoon.

23-year-old Japanese driver Kimiya Sato who currently leads the Auto GP World Series will then complete Friday’s testing.