Aston Martin reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne can drive a Formula 1 car again next week and will be able to drive his team’s current race car for the first time in Pirelli testing after the Belgian Grand Prix.
Although Formula 1’s traditional summer break begins after the Belgian Grand Prix, which almost all teams can expect with the current tight schedule, two teams will run “overtime” at the start of next week, as the program also includes Pirelli testing after the shutdown. August before. McLaren and Aston Martin are involved in this.
The focus of the test will once again be on tyres without heaters, which Pirelli is trying to gather as much data as possible on before F1 teams and the sport’s leaders have the final say on banning the ‘quilts’ currently in use.
As for the entrants, McLaren has named two of its regular drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piaster. Aston Martin used a different tactic: they only send one perennial competitor to the track at Spa for the aforementioned tire test. It will be Lance Stroll, so brand partner Fernando Alonso will not take part in this test – the Spaniard will start his summer vacation earlier.
His Canadian “replacement partner” will be reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who will be able to drive the current F1 car again after 2020: he was then able to drive the Mercedes race car in Abu Dhabi, also as part of a tire test.
The test will certainly be useful for Vandoorne, who so far has only been able to drive an Aston Martin in the simulator, but after practice he can compare what he saw there with what he experienced in reality. Also, from the point of view of preparation, practice can be useful to him, if at some point he has to jump in place of one of the brand partners.
