Formula 1‘s young driver test at Jerez was a lot of fun, wasn’t it? It was a really positive thing for the sport: headlines were dominated by exciting new talent, and politics were pushed to the back-burner for a week.

With no established names there, attention had to focus on relatively unknown drivers, giving them a bit of publicity, recognition, and hopefully a chance of being in the Formula 1 paddock next year.

Formula 3 Euro Series champion Jules Bianchi will be: he’s signed a long-term deal to work with Ferrari. It had been expected regardless of the week’s testing, mind.

The man most likely to immediately benefit is perhaps Daniel Ricciardo, the current British F3 champion, who set the quickest time of the week for Red Bull Racing. Red Bull surely won’t be letting him out of their sights.

Paul di Resta ought to be Force India’s test driver next year, after finishing second, fourth and second on the three days of testing.

Formula Two champion Andy Soucek is confident of being on the F1 grid next year after setting the fastest time on the first day. I wonder whether he might be forgotten a little though, having only been in the car on the first day.

The other man who impressed a great deal – quickest on the second day – was McLaren test driver Gary Paffett. Like di Resta, Paffett spends most of his time in the DTM for Mercedes. But unlike di Resta, Paffett isn’t confident of his chances in F1 – at least not of a race seat.

Which is one negative to come out of the week: there’s lots of promising talent out there, but even with more cars on the grid next season, it’s no easier to get a drive, because almost all of the remaining seats require the driver to bring finance.