Razia to join young driver test line-up

The team had already announced that D'Ambrosio - who drove in practice sessions for Virgin at Singapore, Japan, Korea and Brazil - and Manor GP3 racer Haryanto would take part in the test, and today confirmed that Razia will also be in action.

"I am very excited about driving the VR-01 in a proper test at last," Razia said. "I drove it earlier in the year at the filming day in Jerez, and I also drove a Super-Aguri at Estoril a few weeks ago, but a full day's testing is something different.

"I've been practising on the simulator for the whole season and it will be fantastic to get a feel for the real thing. It's been a great year working with the team and this is undoubtedly the best bit."

D'Ambrosio added: "Although I have driven the car at four grands prix, this is still a very important test for me. We will have the opportunity to try different things that we can't normally do in a race weekend, as then we are working to a fixed programme.

"It's been a fantastic experience for me so far and I'm looking forward to learning even more. I'd like to thank the team for giving me the opportunity.

Haryanto will get his seat time as a prize for being the top driver in Manor's GP3 line-up this year.

"The idea to give the best Manor Racing GP3 driver a test in an F1 car was absolutely fantastic, and I want to thank the team's management for that," he said. "I was so pleased to win this opportunity and I'm really looking forward to driving the car.

"I've driven it on the simulator and felt I was putting in some good times, so I'm looking forward to repeating that on track."