McLaren reserve Lando Norris will make his Formula 1 weekend debut in this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The 2018 F1 season kick-starts after the summer break this weekend with the Belgian GP at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit and McLaren has announced that Norris will drive the car in the FP1 session, replacing Fernando Alonso.
The FIA Formula 2 Championship title contender gets his first run in a F1 weekend after participating in multiple in-season tests with the team this year. The FP1 run becomes crucial as the team decides his and Stoffel Vandoorne’s future.
“This weekend will be the first time that our reserve driver Lando will drive the MCL33 during a race weekend, as he steps into Fernando’s car for FP1 on Friday,” said Sporting Director, Gil de Ferran.
“This is not only part of his ongoing development, but also the evaluation and performance evolution of the car. We’ll be taking a strategic view race-by-race at where else this might be beneficial for us over the coming grands prix.”
The British driver is high on the list to be drafted as a F1 driver in 2019. McLaren already announced Carlos Sainz as its new driver replacing Alonso over the summer break and is to decide its second driver in the due course of time.
Apart from Norris, the other name in the list includes Force India’s Esteban Ocon whose future now seems under threat with Lawrence Stroll buying Force India. There could be few others interested as well as the musical chairs game continues on.