Aston Martin gives Drugovich a chance as Alonso's replacement
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
Aston Martin will soon offer Felipe Drugovich the chance to get mileage in their 2024 F1 car. The British team has designated the test and reserve driver to participate in the first free practice session in Mexico later this month. He will then temporarily replace Fernando Alonso.
It will be Drugovich's first time driving the AMR24, a car he did help develop through his extensive simulator work at the team's Technology Campus. By taking part in the practice session, the Brazilian driver will partly fulfil the team's requirement for a rookie to drive in two FP1s, with a second session scheduled for later this year.
Drugovich is curious about correlation between the sim and the real thing
"I'm really excited to drive the AMR24 for the first time — I've been looking forward to it for a while," said Drugovich. "I've spent a lot of the year working on the development of this car in the team's simulator, so it will be valuable for me to feel the correlation between the sim and the real thing. Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a track I haven’t driven before. It’s a challenging circuit with a mix of long straights and technical corners, so I’ll be spending time on the simulator ahead of the event so that I’m ready to go come FP1."
It is still unknown which free practice Drugovich will be active in later this year, but Abu Dhabi seems the most obvious choice given the three sprint weekends still to come.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton