FRENCH REVOLUTIONRED BULL HAS THROWN ITS GALLIC PROTEGE JEAN-ERIC VERGNE IN THE DEEP END OF F1 FOR 2012, ALONGSIDE AUSSIE ROOKIE DANIEL RICCIARDO. BUT WILL HE SINK, SWIM, OR BLOW THEM ALL OUT OF THE WATER, ASKS DAN KNUTSON"THE FIRST WAY VERGNE AND RICCIARDO WILL PROVE THEY ARE DOING A GOOD JOB IS BY BEATING EACH OTHER" AUSTRALIAN DANIEL Ricciardo and Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne are in an all-out fight to replace Mark Webber at Red Bull Racing - unless, that is, Red Bull sacks one or both of them before Webber's tenure with the team finally ends.Four drivers were in contention for Webber's seat just over a month ago, but then Red Bull abruptly fired both Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers Jamie Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi on December 13, and replaced them with Vergne and Ricciardo for 2012. Webber has a one-year contract with Red Bull, but the Aussie fully intends to race in 2013. He certainly is not looking at 2012 as a countdown towards retirement."That's not the right attitude," Webber, 35, cautions. "The attitude is to focus 100 per cent on the next race. The results are the important thing, not the age."I've had teammates who don't get the 21. It's a results based industry. If you don't get the results, you don't operate with the top teams."Ricciardo, 22, and Vergne, 21, need to prove to Red Bull that they will be capable of delivering better results than Webber. And that won't be an easy task.Yes, Webber was overshadowed by his championship-winning teammate Sebastian Vettel in 2011, but Webber's finishing record last season was still solid: a victory, two second places, seven thirds, six fourths, three poles, and third in the drivers' championship.But for now, the two Toro Rosso drivers will be focusing on each other rather than Webber - Vergne will be Ricciardo's biggest rival and vice-versa, as they go head-to-head this season.Some observers say that Vergne is arrogant. He certainly is sure of himself.He's even surer of himself now that he got a F1 drive, a sort of a French (Juan Pablo) Montoya, according to a friend of mine who works at Toro Rosso," a source informs Auto Action.Ricciardo certainly is sure of his own abilities. You don't get to this level of motor racing without a high level of confidence in yourself and your talent. But, with his ready smile, his sense of humour, his friendly personality, plus his laid-back and open character, the Perth native never comes across as arrogant Ricciardo certainly is sure of his own abilities. You don't get to this level of motor racing without a high level of confidence in yourself and your talent. But, with his ready smile, his sense of humour, his friendly personality, plus his laid-back and open character, the Perth native never comes across as arrogant.Asked to describe Vergne in three words, his 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 teammate Rob Wickens replies: "French, fast, and generally a nice guy."Ricciardo knows Vergne pretty well."We were signed up as part of the Red Bull Junior team on the same day, and we were teammates back then, in the Renault 2.0 series," the Aussie recalls."I spent some time with him at his house in France, going karting together. We had a pretty good relationship by the standard of racing driver teammates."As we progressed, the rivalry got stronger between us, but the important thing is that we respect one another. We both want to beat each other more than anyone else, and it's been like that since we first raced together. It's a good thing and means we will get the maximum out of the equipment we are given. This year will be a proper test for both of us."Vergne says it's fantastic to be teammates with Ricciardo. "He's a great guy, and I like him as a friend," Vergne divulges."We joined the Red Bull program together, so we have known one another for a long time, working together in other series. In F1, you only get one teammate, 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 both of us."Born on April 25, 1990, Vergne began his racing career in karting on 2001, just one year before Webber made his F1 debut in Australia with Minardi, which eventually became the Toro Rosso team that Vergne will make his F1 debut with in Melbourne this year.In 2007 - the year Webber joined Red Bull Racing - Vergne graduated to single seaters. He won the French Formula Renault Campus series with 10 podium finishes in 13 races, and at the end of the season Red Bull signed him up to its Young Driver Program. The French motorsport federation FFSA had already been backing him since his karting days.He then spent two seasons racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and West European Cup, where he was the best rookie in 2008 and finished second in both championships in 2009.Vergne had a stunning season in 2010, winning 13 races in the tough British Formula 3 series and becoming the first Frenchman to win the championship. Vergne was the third consecutive Red Bull Junior Team driver to win the F3 crown with Carlin Motorsport. Alguersuari won it in 2008. and Ricciardo in 2009.In 2010, Vergne also participated in four GP3 events and six Formula Renault 3.5 Series races, winning one of the latter and  earning enough points to finish eighth in the championship.Vergne competed in a full season in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2011 alongside Carlin teammate Wickens. Both drivers won five races each, while Wickens took seven poles to Vergne's four. They went into the season finale with Wickens holding a narrow points lead. They collided on the opening lap and Wickens retired. Vergne would later retire after tangling with another car, and thus Wickens won the championship by just nine points over his teammate.Afterwards, team boss Trevor Carlin said Vergne was ready for F1."I don't think it makes sense for Jean-Eric to do another year in World Series," Carlin told Autosport. "He is a great driver and has proven himself here. I don't think he needs to do it. He certainly doesn't need race experience, as he is one of the best racers - full stop."I do have to say, he is incredible. He pushes and pushes and very rarely ends up making moves where, for example, he damages the front wing. For me, as soon as he is promoted to one of the big cars, the better. I don't know who's going to make room for him but that's not my problem; that's Helmut's problem."Originally, Red Bull's racing director Helmut Marko planned to have Vergne play a third driver role in F1 in 2012.Auto Action originally heard that Alguersuari and/or Buemi would be retained, and Ricciardo would be given a race seat at Toro Rosso, or Red Bull would buy him a seat with another team.But then everything changed. Perhaps Red Bull tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz objected to shelling out millions of dollars to support four junior drivers."Our driver line-up had been under discussion for a long time, as it is obviously a vital component of the team's performance." Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost says."The final decision was taken in a meeting at Red Bull headquarters in Austria on 13 December 2011."And just like that, Buemi and Alguersuari were out, and Toro Rosso had two new race drivers."Over the last year, both Daniel and Jean-Eric have proved their worth and I expect them to make a significant contribution to the team's performance this year," Tost says."Daniel has the benefit of having actually raced in grands prix for much of last year, while Jean-Eric proved he could adapt quickly to the demands of driving an F1 car. As they have both worked with the team and its engineers very recently, this should allow us to get up to speed right from the start of winter testing in a couple of months time." Besides many hours in Red Bull's F1 simulator. Vergne has racked up some F1 seat time. He drove for Toro Rosso in the young driver test in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2010, and then drove for the team in the Friday morning practice sessions in the Korean, Abu Dhabi and Brazilian Grands Prix at the end of last season.Then, just as like Ricciardo in 2010, Vergne got three days in the Red Bull at the young driver test in Abu Dhabi in 2011. And, just like the Australian, the Frenchman topped the time sheets with laps that would have put him on the front rows of the grid for the grand prix on the same track.Vergne, like Ricciardo, is very fast. Alain Prost said last year that he didn't see any driver on the horizon who could or would be the next world champion from France. After watching and chatting with fellow countryman Vergne, Prost might be reconsidering... The clock is already ticking for Ricciardo and Vergne. How long do they have to prove themselves to Red Bull?Going by the latest Red Bull rejects, the deadline is two and a half seasons in the case of Alguersuari. and three seasons in the case of Buemi. Those two now find themselves on the Red Bull scrapheap, along with the likes of Tonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed. Rob Wickens and Brendon Hartley.Tost declines to discuss the lengths of the contracts of Toro Rosso's new drivers."Let's just say that it is their performance level in the car that is the deciding factor and if they do a good job, this will help their cause in terms of how long they stay with us," he says.The first way Vergne and Ricciardo will prove they are doing a good job is by beating each other, as they battle head-to-head on the same grid. So their main rivals in 2012 are at opposing ends of the same Toro Rosso garage.ALAIN PROST SAID HE DIDN'T SEE ANY DEIVER WHO COULD BE THE NEXT FRENCH WORLD CHAMPION. PERHAPS HE IS RECONSIDERNING."