In a move that has sent the rumour mill into overdrive, Red Bull have announced that Daniel Ricciardo will be testing the RB9 in this week’s Young Driver Test at Silverstone.

This will certainly give the young Ricciardo’s hopes of replacing fellow Australian driver Mark Webber at Red Bull  next year a boost.

According to Red Bull, Ricciardo – who is facing competition for the Red Bull seat from Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen and fellow Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne – will be in the seat of the Red Bull RB9 on Wednesday afternoon.

Mark Webber, who is leaving Formula One at the end of the season to race for Le Mans sports car racing with Porsche, will be testing the Pirelli tyres on Thursday afternoon and Sebastian Vettel will be in the car on Friday afternoon.

Portuguese driver Antonio Félix da Costa who is a member of the Red Bull young driver programme, and would be most likely to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Toro Rosso, will test for Red Bull on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

Carlos Sainz Jr will take over for the final morning at Silverstone.

The Young Driver Test at Silverstone was originally intended to be for young drivers only but after a spate of blow outs during last month’s British Grand Prix, the FIA opened it up to regular race drivers to test for Pirelli.