He still going to drive for Red Bull, this is just some bonus seat time

 

i know, i meant HRT is so far off the pace he will likely learn nothing and will not impress anyone. remember webbers 5th in a minardi way back when? that raised eyebrows, these HRT cars aren't capable of raising their game no matter who is behind the wheel.

 

It is still GP race seat time that he has never had, starting on a full tank, having to manage the tyre over the race and so on, also Liuzzi his team mate is a known quantity as a F1 driver so depending on how well he goes compared to him will be what impresses people... They are not expecting him to drag the HRT up the field into the points, as you said the HRT is off the pace (well they have caught up to Virgin) but they will expect Dan to give Liuzzi a run for his money once he is settled in... In the end I think Red Bull has already made their mind up on Daniel and he has got a drive for next year with them, they just want him to get as many miles as he can under his belt, and since both the TR guys are equal on points they can't just dump one like they were planning to around the Silverstone round.