Photo: Aston Martin F1
Aston Martin will use its reserve driver Felipe Drugovich in the opening practice session of this month’s Mexico City Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old is the 2022 Formula 2 champion, and became an Aston Martin Formula 1 junior days after he won the F2 title. He was also given a reserve driver role, which led to him making his free practice debut at that year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
In 2023 he made two practice outings, at Monza and Yas Marina Circuit, and he will make two again this year since teams are mandated to run ‘young drivers’ in at least two practice sessions each season. His second outing will be announced at a later date.
“I’m really excited to drive the [Aston Martin] 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.
“Autodromo 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.”
Last month Drugovich did a private IndyCar test with Chip Ganassi Racing at Barber Motorsports Park, completing over 100 laps on his first ever day in an Indy car.
The Brazilian told Autosport that he was “surprised by the speed, but at the same time, it was very different from what I thought it would be” since he was anticipating to be familiar in feel to an F2 car. He came to the conclusion it was in fact “extremely different from anything I have ever driven”.
Drugovich has remained race-fit by competing in the European Le Mans Series, and is currently 14th in the standings with one podium.