Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovic will take part in the first free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix. The Brazilian will replace the team’s lead driver, Lance Stroll. In the second practice, Lance returns to the wheel and spends the remaining sessions of the race weekend.
Last year, Felipe Drugovic also filled in for Stroll during Friday practice in Abu Dhabi, and the last time he drove a 2023 Aston Martin was during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Felipe Drugovich: Can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the AMR23 again. The car performed well in pre-season testing and I wonder how much progress has been made since then. I worked a lot on the simulator and helped upgrade the car, so now it will be very useful for me to evaluate the correlation.
It’s also a great opportunity for me to showcase what I’ve learned during my testing program. After Bahrain, I have driven many miles behind the wheel of the Formula 1 car of the past, so I now have a better understanding of how to provide valuable feedback to the team.
I am grateful to Aston Martin for entrusting me with this opportunity, and to XP’s Brazilian partners, Porto Seguro and Banco Master for their continued support.”
Mike Crack, Team Principal: “We are delighted to give Felipe another chance to get behind the wheel of the AMR23. He demonstrated his capabilities in pre-season testing and made a significant contribution to the machine’s development at an early stage.
At Monza, Felipe will once again have the opportunity to work with engineers and mechanics in an important session for the team. We look forward to getting the most out of this training.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
