Mick Schumacher has tested at Portimao with the McLaren F1 team as reserve driver for 2023. Schumacher took to the wheel of McLaren’s 2021 MCL35M car on Wednesday as part of F1’s so-called TPC rules that allow testing on two-year-old cars.
The test is part of a deal in which Mercedes shares test and reserve drivers with McLaren, which supplies customer engines. For the past few years McLaren had agreed a deal with Mercedes to bring in Stoffel Vandoorne and Nick de Vries in case one of their race drivers needed to be replaced. The contract has been extended for the 2023 season, allowing Schumacher to be available as reserve driver should either Lando Norris or rookie Oscar Piastri be unable to race. After testing at Portimao, Schumacher was able to see how McLaren worked in a way he had never worked before. McLaren’s race team sent a test team that included young engineering talent during the Austrian and British Grand Prix doubleheaders. “Joining with Mick will provide mechanics, apprentice engineers and interns with valuable experience in a trackside environment,” McLaren said on Twitter. For Schumacher, the 24-year-old former Haas F1 team driver, it will be his second F1 test of the year, following Mercedes’ Pirelli tire test in Barcelona. The team was trialing a prototype tire without a blanket for Pirelli. “This experience definitely helps me in my role,” Schumacher said of the Barcelona test. “I now have a better understanding of what to look out for and what to work on. I also have a better understanding of all the procedures and how the team works trackside. It will be an important factor in the event that I do jump into racing.” Schumacher, the son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, will make his F1 debut in 2021. He was fired from the Haas F1 team that decorated the 2010 season and became a test and reserve driver. Following two struggling seasons with Haas F1 Team, Schumacher will be replaced by his experienced compatriot Nico Hulkenberg from 2023. Schumacher will return to F1 later this month at the Goodwood Festival of Speed driving his father’s 2011 Mercedes W02.
2023-07-05 20:43:46
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