Felipe Drugovich extended as a reserve and selected to test in Abu Dhabi

A fifth outing in the Aston Martin for Felipe Drugovich. The former Formula 2 champion will participate in the free practice sessions during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on November 24th. He will be replacing Fernando Alonso. The Brazilian driver has already had the opportunity to drive during the FP1 session of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, on September 1st, in Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. He was also able to carry out two private test sessions, behind the wheel of the AMR 21, at Silverstone in April and at Monza last Monday. Drugovich had also participated in the pre-season testing in Bahrain, filling in for the injured Lance Stroll who had a fall while biking during the off-season.

The obligation to have young drivers competing in Formula 1

Since 2022, teams are required to have a rookie driver, a driver who has competed in less than two Grand Prix, during a free practice session. The two regular drivers must give up their cars to a rookie, at least once during the season. However, teams are not obligated to have the same driver participate in free practice sessions twice in a year. They also do not have to have two rookies participate in the same free practice session, a situation that has not yet occurred in F1. When a team decides to promote a rookie driver at the beginning of the season, their participation in FP1 will count as one of the two mandatory sessions for each team, as McLaren did with Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri did with Nyck De Vries this year.

A contract extension for Drugovich

In addition to this free practice session, Aston Martin has extended the contract of its reserve driver for the 2024 season. The team made this information official through a press release. For 2024, he will continue to attend Grand Prix events in his official role and will also carry out simulator development work at the AMR Silverstone technology campus, assisting the team of engineers in evaluating new technical developments and upgrades, the team specified in the statement.

(I)I’m really proud to continue working with Aston Martin for a second season. This year, I’ve learned a lot, not only on the track, but also working with the engineers in the simulator and as part of the development program that was designed for me. I’m proud of the contribution I’ve been able to make and happy to have been able to contribute to the development of AMR23, says Felipe Drugovich via the statement.