Paris: French driver Jean Eric Vergne, who will make his Formula One debut next year with Toro Rosso, feels his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo has a slight edge over him as the Australian has already done 11 races.
"Dan could probably have a slight edge over me at first as he has done eleven races this year, but let's see how it develops, as we have all the winter testing ahead of us before we start racing," he said following the surprise announcement of drivers line up by Red Bull's sister team.
The Paris-based Vergne, however, is happy to have Ricciardo as his team-mate as both have been a part of the Red Bull drivers' programme. "I think it's fantastic for me to be his team-mate. He's a great guy and I like him as a friend. In Formula One, you only get one team-mate, so you have to make the best of it, working together to do as good a job as possible for the team. We have similar driving styles and we get on well and that will be a positive factor for us next year," he said.
Vergne conceded that he had a lot to learn while going into his first season. "I am conscious it could be very tough, but I also know that in general, I learn and I adapt very quickly: certainly that was the case in every category that I have raced in so far. Formula One is different, tougher than all the rest, but I feel confident," he remarked.
When asked as to what he would have been doing had he not got the 2012 drive, he replied, "I think I might have been the third driver for the team, running in Friday practice again and maybe tackling another season of World Series. But now I don't have to think about that because my plans for next year are fixed in the best way possible," he said.
Vergne added that he would be going to the factory in Faenza in the next few weeks to meet the engineers. "I've got quite a few questions going round in my head, so it will be good to get to Italy and discuss everything calmly before it's time to get in the cockpit again," he said.
Vergne said that without the support of Red Bull, he would not be in Formula One. "Maybe I'd still be in college. After that, I have to say that the French motorsport federation has been a great help, backing me ever since I was racing karts. Then I won a Federation championship called the Autosport Academy, so they got me on my way before I became part of the Red Bull programme," he added.
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