Valtteri Bottas undertook his first test with McLaren in Barcelona as part of sharing deal of F1 reserve driver alongside Mercedes role.
Like they have done in the past, Mercedes lent its reserve driver to McLaren to undertake a Testing Previous Car run. Since McLaren’s reserve Pato O’Ward is mostly busy with his IndyCar commitment, the team takes help from its power unit provider in sharing the reserve driver.
It is only for the time if Lando Norris and or Oscar Piastri cannot compete. The deal doesn’t usually include simulator run to help the F1 team during race weekends. Bottas, in this case, will undertake simulator work only for Mercedes during race weekends when he is at the factory.
After couple of seasons with Sauber, Bottas returned to Mercedes in third driver capacity to aide George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. So far, he hasn’t driven the Mercedes car since his return. But he has now had the chance to drive the 2023 MCL60 for McLaren at Barcelona under the TPC programme.
It remains to be seen when Bottas gets to drive the Mercedes machine this year, whether under TPC or Pirelli tyre test programme. With the first test with McLaren done, the Finn should get more opportunities to remain in-sync with the Woking-based team’s mechanism.
Here’s a video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHt_TabC9qn/?hl=en
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Here’s Oscar Piastri on his own step
Here’s Lando Norris on brake issue, Andrea Stella adds
