The in-season testing ban may have caused some problems but it has given us one thing to look forward to: tomorrow a three-day F1 test session exclusively for rookie drivers begins at Jerez.

Already most of the teams have announced their drivers which include a host of champions plus several drivers from nations not currently represented in F1 including America, Mexico, Sweden, Belgium, New Zealand and China.

Here’s a guide to the drivers announced so far and who they’ll be appearing for. Which of them will we be seeing in F1 soon?

Bertrand Baguette

Nationality: Belgian

Career highlights: 2009 World Series by Renault champion

Team: Renault

Test dates: Tuesday 1st December

Won the World Series by Renault comfortably at his third attempt this year with 155 points to closest rival Fairuz Fauzy’s 98. It may have taken him until round ten to register his first win but consistency served him well.

He wrapped up the title before the end of the season but hung around to win the final two races at Motorland Aragon in emphatic style. Deserves a shot at F1 for his surname alone – can he follow previous category champions Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica into the top level?

Jules Bianchi

Nationality: French

Career highlights: 2009 F3 Euroseries champion

Team: Ferrari

Test dates: Tuesday 1st-Wednesday 2nd December

With Nicolas Todt (son of FIA president Jean Todt) managing his career, Bianchi’s chances of reaching F1 would look good even if he weren’t such a promising talent. But his dominant F3 Euroseries title win this year, setting him up for a GP2 debut with ART next year, shows his considerable promise.

The only blot on his form this year was an indifferent showing at the blue riband Macau Grand Prix, starting 21st and finishing tenth.

It’s fascinating that Ferrari are showing such interest in him at this stage in his career, giving him two of their three allocated test days. It’s been a long time since a rookie made their F1 race debut with Ferrari. Perhaps they’ve looked at the success McLaren have had with another ex-ART driver – Lewis Hamilton – and want to emulate it.

Jules Bianchi

Mirko Bortolotti

Nationality: Italian

Career highlights: 2008 Italian Formula Three champion

Team: Toro Rosso

Test dates: TBC

Mirko Bortolotti is one of a trio of Italian drivers who tested for Ferrari at the end of last season. He was considered the most promising of the three, and raced in Formula Two this year.

He scored just one win against the Andy Soucek steamroller and ended the year fourth overall. But he’s still only 19 and already enjoys the backing of Red Bull, earning him the Toro Rosso test.

Mirko Bortolotti

Mike Conway

Nationality: British

Career highlights: 2006 British Formula Three champion

Team: Mercedes

Test dates: Tuesday 1st-Thursday 3rd December

On Twitter: Mike Conway

Conway is already well-known to The Team Now Known As Mercedes, as he was a test driver for them during their Honda incarnation.

I met him in 2006 when he was in British Formula Three. He talked of how he wanted to get into Formula 1 but appreciated how difficult it is to do and how racing in America could be an alternative.

Funnily enough, that’s just how things worked out. Despite beating team mate Bruno Senna (set to become an F1 driver for Campos) to the British F3 title, Conway’s subsequent two seasons in GP2 didn’t bring much success. He won once, at Monaco in 2008, while team mate to Ho-Pin Tung at Trident (see below). After that, he went State-side.

Let’s not mince words: there were a lot of crashes during his season with Dreyer and Reinbold Racing in the Indy Racing League. In fact there were seven in 17 starts. However he did show some speed, particularly on road courses, and was a surprising and wholly deserved third at Infineon Raceway.

His appearance at the test – where he will share three days’ running with Marcus Ericsson – could play a role in deciding whether his racing future is in Europe or America.

Paul di Resta

Nationality: British

Career highlights: 2006 F3 Euroseries champion

Team: Force India

Test dates: TBC

Paul di Resta is testing for Force India but with both their seats taken for 2010 the interesting link here could be engine supplier Mercedes.

Di Resta has driven for them in the DTM since 2007. The year before that he won the F3 Euroseries beating team mate Sebastian Vettel, so quite a few people are interested to see how di Resta gets on in an F1 car.

He has even been rumoured as an outside chance for the second Mercedes seat alongside Nico Rosberg. That seems unlikely (would a driver without an F1 win and another driver without an F1 start be a good enough line-up for the reigning champions?), but with his ambitions focussed on F1 it’s certainly time he moved up from the DTM.

Lucas di Grassi

Nationality: Brazilian

Career highlights: GP2 runner-up, 2007

Team: Renault

Test dates: TBC

On Twitter: Lucas di Grassi

Really should have won a GP2 championship by now after four seasons in the category. Was probably the series’ most impressive driver last year when he finished third in the championship despite missing the first six races.

But he’s had two seasons where he’s joined the winners of the previous championship and failed to deliver the title – with ART in 2007 and Racing Engineering this year.

Di Grassi has been a test driver for Renault and is a strong candidate for a drive next year even if they don’t stay in F1, having also been linked to the new Manor and Campos teams. This test could seal a deal for him.

Lucas di Grassi

Marcus Ericsson

Nationality: Swedish

Career highlights: 2007 Formula BMW UK champion, 2009 Japanese Formula Three champion

Team: Mercedes

Test dates: TBC

Marcus Ericsson won the Japanese F3 championship in an exciting season finale after nearest rival Takuto Iguchi spun in the last race at Sugo. That completed the task Ericsson had set out on after leaving the UK racing scene behind where he’d won the Formula BMW championship in 2007 and finished fifth in British F3 last year.

He took pole position for the Macau Grand Prix last weekend but struggled to hold back his Volkswagen-engined rivals and finished fourth.

Now Ericsson looks set to move up to GP2 having begun the GP2 Asia championship with ART, though he failed to score in the first two races.

Esteban Gutierrez

Nationality: Mexican

Career highlights: 2008 Formula BMW Europe champion

Team: BMW

Test dates: TBC

Gutierrez, like Alexander Rossi (below), earned his F1 test with BMW thanks to his performance in Formula BMW last year. The Mexican driver won the Formula BMW European championship last year in races supporting several Grands Prix.

He made his move up to Formula Three this year as team-mate to Bianchi at ART. He ended the year ninth overall, a respectable result for a rookie in a difficult category. The 18-year-old has had a pair of GP2 tests – with ART in October and with Arden earlier this month.

Brendon Hartley

Nationality: New Zealander

Career highlights: 2007 Formula Renault 2.0 Europe champion

Team: Toro Rosso

Test dates: TBC

Hartley was Jaime Alguersuari’s team mate in the Carlin British F3 team last year – he finished third while Alguerusuari won the title and, as we all know, moved up into F1 this year.

This year the New Zealand driver – who just turned 20 – raced in the F3 Euroseries and World Series by Renault. The split campaigns don’t seem to have done his form any favours: he scored just 15 points in the F3 Euroseries (including one win) but missed six races. He scored 26 in World Series by Renault, missing five races.

Despite not seeming to know what to do with him, the Red Bull Driver Development programme has at least seen fit to give him an F1 test for Toro Rosso. Next year he would probably benefit from finding one category and sticking to it.

Nico H?�??lkenberg

Nationality: German

Career highlights: 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix champion (Team Germany), 2008 F3 Euroseries champion, 2009 GP2 champion, 2010 F1 driver (Williams)

Team: Williams

Test dates: TBC

We already know plenty about Nico H?�??lkenberg. He romped to the GP2 title for ART, becoming the first rookie to win the category since Lewis Hamilton in 2006.

With championship titles in other major junior series and the backing of Michael Schumcher’s manager Willi Weber, much is expected from H?�??lkenberg’s F1 debut for Williams in 2010.

Nico H?�??lkenberg

Daniel Ricciardo

Nationality: Australian

Career highlights: 2008 Formula Renault 2.0 WEC champion, 2009 British F3 champion

Team: Red Bull

Test dates: TBC

Australian Daniel Ricciardo (who lists Mark Webber among his favourite drivers) began this year’s British F3 championship with a pair of wins at Oulton Park.

This followed a move up from Formula Renault 2.0 WEC where he was champion in 2008. Ricciardo, who is backed by Red Bull, went on to win the British F3 title comfortably with six wins.

Although he had no answer for Bianchi’s pace when the ART team appeared at a couple of British rounds, that could be more a reflection of the higher level of competition in the European championship and Bianchi’s greater experience.

Ricciardo also took the opportunity to sample more powerful machinery this year, driving two races in Formula Renault 3.5, suggesting that could be his next step on the path towards F1.

Andy Soucek

Nationality: Spanish

Career highlights: 2009 Formula Two champion

Team: Williams

Test dates: TBC

Williams are giving a test to Andy Soucek as his prize for winning the Formula Two championship, which the F1 team supplies cars for. With both Williams seats taken for next year, the best Soucek can hope for with the team is inheriting H?�??lkenberg’s former role as test driver.

Before F2 Soucek spent two years driving more powerful cars against stronger opposition in GP2, with a best result of two second places. He may well have to prove himself against that kind of opposition before he’s considered worthy of an F1 seat.

Andy Soucek

JR Hildebrand

Nationality: American

Career highlights: 2009 Indy Lights champion

Team: Force India

Test dates: TBC

On Twitter: JR Hildebrand

Not the notorious Dallas bad guy (that’s JR Ewing) or the fictional author of a book on fly fishing (JR Hartley) – JR Hildebrand is this year’s Indy Lights champion. And if you’ve not heard of him before, don’t worry, it’s not as if there’s a great pedigree of Indy Lights drivers graduating straight to F1.

Hildebrand, 21, won four races en route to the Indy Lights championship title in his second full year in the category. The series runs on a mix of road, street and oval courses and all of Hildebrand’s wins came on tracks with right and left-hand turns. A1GP fans may also remember he made a one-off appearance for Team USA at Brands Hatch, finishing fourth in his first race.

It’s too early to be thinking of a graduation to F1 but the test could present an opportunity for Hildebrand to move his career to a European championship such as GP2 where he would be more likely to attract the attention of F1 team bosses.

Alexander Rossi

Nationality: American

Career highlights: 2008 Formula BMW Americas champion, 2008 Formula BMW World Series champion

Team: BMW

Test dates: TBC

Plenty of people would like to see a competitive American driver in F1 to raise the sport’s profile in the USA. Californian Alexander Rossi might be the driver to do it one day.

Along with Gutierrez, Rossi is testing for BMW, thanks to his victory in last year’s BMW World Series and the Formula BMW American series. He started racing in Europe this year and joined the Formula Master championship. Three wins put him fourth in the championship and top rookie.

Rossi made his first appearance in GP2 Asia at the race supporting the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and looked instantly at home in the more powerful cars, finishing fourth and fifth in his first two races. It’s still early days, but Rossi seems the most convincing young American talent trying to ply his trade in F1 for some time.

Alexander Rossi

Pablo Sanchez Lopez

Nationality: Mexican

Career highlights: Third in 2009 Italian Formula Three championship

Team: Ferrari

Test dates: Thursday 3rd December

While Bianchi gets two days in the F60 the three other drivers Ferrari is bringing to the test will share a day between them. They are the top three drivers from this year’s Italian Formula Three championship.

Mexican Pablo Sanchez Lopez was third in the series, ending the year with a double win at Monza. The 19-year-old moved to the category after a season in World Series by Renault last year – where he was the second-lowest ranked of all drivers who completed a full season.

Oliver Turvey

Nationality: British

Career highlights: 2006 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award winner

Team: McLaren

Test dates: Tuesday 1st-Thursday 3rd December

Not content with having an all-British driver line-up for 2010 McLaren has picked another British driver – Oliver Turvey – to test its car.

Turvey finished as runner-up to Jaime Alguersuari in the British F3 championship last year. The pair graduated to World Series by Renault together and Turvey edged Alguersuari on points, finishing fourth overall and winning the F1-supporting Monaco race.

Turvey has already landed a seat with GP2 team iSport for 2010, and drove for them in the GP2 Asia race at Yas Island.

He is backed by the Racing Steps Foundation which helps talented British drivers who lack sponsorship to find drives.

Ho-Pin Tung

Nationality: Chinese

Career highlights: 2003 Formula BMW Asia champion, 2006 German Formula Three champion

Team: Renault

Test dates: TBC

Are Renault only interested in Ho-Pin Tung for the potential publicity value of having the first Chinese driver in the sport? With the future of their team in doubt it doesn’t take a cynic to see the value to the car manufacturer of having a Chinese driver in one of their cars, or even just a test role, for 2010.

Tung has two seasons of experience in GP2. He scored just 11 points from 2007-2008, but was not in any of the front-running teams. He’s also competed in A1 Grand Prix and was in Superleague Formula this year. Tung started the season with Atletico Madrid but switched to Galatasaray and scored a decent win at Jarama.

He had his first F1 test back in 2004 with Williams and also appeared in BMW’s Pit Lane Park at Shanghai in 2007 (below).

Daniel Zampieri

Nationality: Italian

Career highlights: 2009 Italian Formula Three champion

Team: Ferrari

Test dates: Thursday 3rd December

Zampieri won the Italian F3 championship this year and has already made a move up to GP2 Asia. The 19-year-old raced at Yas Island for Piquet GP, registering a 15th and a DNF. He also joined the stars of F3 for the Macau race at the end of the year – but was eliminated in the lap one mayhem, along with Ricciardo and Hartley.

Marco Zipoli

Nationality: Italian

Career highlights: Second in 2009 Italian Formula Three Championship.

Team: Ferrari

Test dates: Thursday 3rd December

The 19-year-old Genoan driver scored points in every round of the Italian F3 championship this year despite driving for three different teams during the year. He ended the year second behind Zampieri but the pair scored almost the same amount of points when they became team mates for the last eight races of the year.

Who else?

At the time of writing McLaren are yet to confirm who they might bring to the test. And it’s not clear if Toyota, who are pulling out of F1, will bother to attend.

Which of these drivers do you think will do well and deserve an F1 seat?

Are there any other up-and-coming drivers you think deserve an F1 test? What about the likes Sergio Perez, Edoardo Mortara and Giedo van der Garde? Have your say in the comments.

Images (C) Renault, Alastair Staley/GP2, Drew Gibson/GP2, DTM, British F3, Indy Racing League, Honda Racing, Superleague Formula, BMW ag