Daniil Kvyat has made an immediate impression on his bosses.
The Russian teen has been signed as the Red Bull-bound Daniel Ricciardo’s 2014 replacement at the energy drink company’s second F1 team, Toro Rosso.
He has been given an early start in 2013, with two Friday practice appearances in Austin and now in Brazil.
On Friday at a wet Interlagos, the confident 19-year-old was not only faster than Ricciardo and his 2014 teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, but ranked eighth fastest overall in the morning session.
"He has big balls," Dr Helmut Marko, the outspoken Austrian Red Bull chief, said after Kvyat set the time on the wet Brazilian circuit.
"I think we have the right man," he told the Swiss newspaper Blick.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was also impressed.
"You could see he’s not afraid of the car in any way," he said on British television BBC. "He’s throwing it around and has got plenty of car control. It was certainly an impressive performance."