Silverstone young driver test photo's

It was the start of the young driver test at a boiling Silverstone today (Wednesday 17th). Well it's mostly for young drivers, a few race drivers will be taking part to test out the new Pirelli's for Hungary in a weeks time.

All teams apart from the banned Mercedes squad participated in eight hours of ear shredding noise and spectacular watching. Being able to roam, even a small part of the track was great. Copse in particular was magical, the amount of speed they carry through there is utterly amazing.

Anyway rather than telling you what happened here is an extensive collection of pictures from the days events. The photo's of the garages might have been better if some of the bigger teams had taken their screens down, but still they did put their 2012 cars on display. Video's can be found here.

26 year old Davide Rigon is part of the Ferrari young driver program. He is no stranger to these tests and will be driving for two and a half days of the three. Felipe Massa gets the Friday morning to test Pirelli's.

Alex Rossi is from the USA, America's first decent hope at a successful F1 driver in years. He concentrated on long runs for most of the day and struck a problem when going for a fast time. He still completed 69 laps. 

Robin Frijns tested for Sauber. He is the reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Champion and this year has already won in GP2 

Tio Ellinas currently leads the GP3 standings. Max Chilton took over Marussia duties in the afternoon.

GP2 race winner James Calado was overjoyed to get his first taste of Formula 1.

Kevin Magnussen dives right into the heat haze

Johnny Cecotto is a GP2 race winner and part time crasher. Money bought him 75 laps in a Toro Rosso.

Antonio Felix da Costa has possibly the coolest name in the Red Bull young driver program. Daniel Ricciardo was meant to have the afternoon but that was delayed until Thursday when it'll be his chance to show Red Bull just why he should be Webber's replacement.

Art.

Paul di Resta looked on it as soon as he took to the track.

da Costa contorting the Red Bull

Daniel Juncadella is 2012 F3 Euro Series champion. He is currently in the DTM.

Kevin Magnussen has been part of the McLaren program for a while now, they have high hopes for him. He is currently 2nd in Formula Renault 3.5. Magnussen set the fastest time of the day after completing 100 laps.

Nicolas Prost, son of Alain, isn't an F1 hopeful at 31 years old, but he is a reliable tester. He now drives in Sports cars.