The 22-year-old Brazilian driver replaces Lance Stroll on day one of testing and starts favorite to make his F1 debut with Aston Martin if the Canadian is unable to start the season.
The Brazilian Felipe Drugovich will be the substitute for Lance Stroll in the F1 2023 pre-season tests and, therefore, will alternate at the wheel of the Aston Martin AMR23 with Fernando Alonso, at least this Thursday, at the start of the training week.
Drugovich, who was proclaimed Formula 2 Champion last season, was announced as an Aston Martin test driver at the end of last year, at the same time he joined the British brand’s driver academy. The Brazilian even had the chance to ride the AMR22 in Free Practice 1 at the Abu Dhabi GP.
This role will allow him to start 2023 at the wheel of the new Aston Martin F1 team car, after Lance Stroll was absent after his accident while training on a bicycle just a few days ago. Yesterday it was rumored that Alonso could do the entire season, but in the end it will not be like that.
And it makes perfect sense, since it is not confirmed that Stroll will recover in time to start the 2023 Formula 1 season, which starts just a week after the tests. Should he not be ready for the first race, Drugovich will at least have some experience behind the wheel of the AMR23, as he will undoubtedly be the favorite to start the course.
Aston Martin F1 has confirmed that Alonso and Drugovich will share the first day of testing – on Thursday – in Bahrain, but has not given details about who will drive the green car the other two days. Alonso will be behind the wheel, there is no doubt about that, and Drugovich is expected to do so as well in order to be prepared for what may come next.
In addition to Drugovich, the Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne is also part of the Aston Martin test driver list, with whom Alonso already shared a team at McLaren.
As for Lance Stroll, his absence from testing in Bahrain puts him in a difficult position ahead of the start of pre-season testing, especially in comparison to Alonso, who will have much more experience with the same car.
