Drugovich to share final day of testing with Alonso at Aston Martin

Aston Martin have confirmed they will split the final day of testing between Fernando Alonso and reserve driver Felipe Drugovich.

Race driver Lance Stroll has been forced to miss the sole pre-season test before the start of this year’s Formula 1 season after suffering a hand injury in a cycling accident while training last week. While Aston Martin say they are assessing Stroll’s fitness regularly, he was unable to participate in the pre-season test in Bahrain.

Drugovich, one of Aston Martin’s two reserve drivers this season alongside Stoffel Vandoorne, drove the team’s AMR23 in the opening session of the test on Friday. He covered a total of 40 laps, posting the 17th-fastest time of the day.

Alonso, who has joined Aston Martin as a race driver for 2023, is completing a full day of running in the car today. He set the third-fastest time in the early session prior to the lunch break.

The team have now confirmed that both Alonso and Drugovich will share the car over the final day of the test on Saturday. Drugovich will run the AMR23 in the morning session, while Alonso will take over for the final session of the test in the evening.

Speaking yesterday, Drugovich said that the team would continue to evaluate Stroll’s recovery before making any decision whether to replace him for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, which takes place next weekend.

“They’re evaluating it day-by-day, so I don’t even know what’s going to happen,” Drugovich said. “It depends on him as well.

“But it would be just a choice of the team just before the weekend. It will probably a quite quick one because as Lance’s recovering probably until next week, we’ll make a decision.”

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