Stoffel Vandoorne back in F1 car with AMR23 runout at Spa-Francorchamps

Sam Cooper 25 Jul 2023 5:52 PM

Stoffel Vandoorne stood next to an Aston Martin branded wall. Bahrain, March 2023

Stoffel Vandoorne will get behind the wheel of the AMR23 on the as he completes the Pirelli Tyre Test at Spa-Francorchamps for Aston Martin.

The Belgian is sharing reserve and test driver duties this year with Felipe Drugovich and will be hopping in this year’s car in the week following the Belgian Grand Prix.

正如丹尼尔Ricciardo对红牛l at Silverstone, Vandoorne will be completing the Pirelli test of the 2024 tyres although it would be quite the shock if he were to end up with a full-time seat in the same manner that Ricciardo did.

Vandoorne’s last experience of driving an F1 car on track came for Mercedes as part of the 2020 Young Drivers’ Test following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and before that, he was a McLaren driver from 2017 to 2018.

The Belgian then made a switch to Formula E where he won the title before joining Aston Martin at the start of 2023 as their reserve and simulator driver. He serves a similar function for McLaren.

Pirelli have been conducting a number of tyre tests this year starting at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in June. During that test both Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz took part as did Mercedes’ George Russell and Mick Schumacher.

Schumacher drove again shortly after the British Grand Prix earlier this month.