Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Vegan misses, Renoite makes F1 cut

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2002 | 9:36 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Michael Abbate of Las Vegas was not among the four drivers selected to race in Europe next year as part of the inaugural Red Bull F1 Driver Search program but one Nevada driver made the cut.

After five days of evaluation last week at the Circuit Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track in France, a panel of judges selected Joel Nelson of Reno, Paul Edwards of Santa Maria, Calif., Grant Maiman of New London, Wisc., and Scott Speed of Manteca, Calif., to race in an European junior formula series with full funding from Red Bull energy drink.

The goal of the program is to develop an American driver to race in Formula One.

The four were chosen from a pool of 13 young American drivers who took part in the run-off. Two drivers who were invited to take part in the test, A.J. Allmendinger of Hollister, Calif., and Ryan Hunter-Reay of Boca Raton, Fla., did not participate after signing with teams in the United States to race in 2003.

"We had 13 tremendously talented American racers here," said Danny Sullivan, Red Bull F1 Driver Search program manager and a judge. "All the boys were so good that it made our decision very, very difficult.

"Beside being among the fastest during the lapping sessions, we had to consider not only each driver's individual experience but also the variety of the cars they've driven and the variety of the cars we utilized here at the run-off. To do this right, to find the drivers most likely to succeed in the extremely competitive European racing universe, the judges had to factor all of it in."

Although the 16-year-old Abbate was not selected to advance in the program, Sullivan said he and the other finalists would be eligible to participate in the Red Bull F1 Driver Search program in 2003.

"Each were utterly impressive and will likely be considered again for next year," Sullivan said.

Red Bull has agreed to fund the driver search program for a minimum of five years.

The event, which is expected to draw more than 125 Rotax Max Challenge drivers from across the country, will run Thursday through Saturday and offer $55,000 in awards, including $30,000 cash. Call 702-260-6355 for details.