Will Stevens is adamant he is not putting his life on the line when he makes his Formula One in Abu Dhabi debut this weekend.

The 23-year-old from Essex has been thrust into the spotlight after his sponsors agreed to stump up £500,000 to get him into the vacant Caterham seat.

The Leafield-based team are back on the grid after being allowed to skip the last two races after falling into administration.

This compares with the £35,000 put up by the grandfather of Chipping Norton racer Alice Powell to get her drive in Abu Dhabi – a bid that was always a long shot.

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After raising nearly £2m to date via a crowdfunding project to ensure they take part in the race, Caterham are back in the public eye.

Co-administrator and interim team principal Finbarr O’Connell hopes an investor will now come forward to take the team on into 2015 and beyond.

For now, at the Yas Marina circuit, it is Stevens and Kamui Kobayashi who will attempt to fly the flag.

Stevens (pictured), who was only granted his required superlicence by the FIA on yesterday morning, has no fears getting into the car.

“I can’t speak for what happened before,” he said.

“But I know what we have here and I’m sure everything is fine and I feel comfortable in going out there and pushing to the limit.”

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