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Lando Norris set to make FP1 debut this weekend in the McLaren!

Lando Norris set to make FP1 debut this weekend in the McLaren!

20-08-2018 17:23

McLaren will give Lando Norris a seat in FP1 this weekend in Belgium. The young British driver will replace Fernando Alonso on Friday and join home favourite Stoffel Vandoorne in the garage. This steps up suspicions that McLaren are lining up a seat for Norris next season. 

Norris took part in the post-Hungarian Grand Prix test in the week before the official start of the summer break. He seems to have impressed bosses as the F2 title challenger gets a mini promotion!

With Fernando Alonso leaving, and Vandoorne's form hard to find, McLaren may well open up both seats in the winter. We know that Carlos Sainz will sit inside one McLaren cockpit, but the second seat remains unfilled.

The Spa practice session may well determine Norris's near-future, though according to motorsport, he is set to be given another practice session before the season ends.

"This is not only part of his ongoing development, but also the evaluation and performance evolution of the car," sporting director Gil de Ferran told motorsport.

"We’ll be taking a strategic view race-by-race at where else this might be beneficial for us over the coming Grands Prix.

“Spa-Francorchamps has a well-deserved reputation as a racers’ circuit due to its historic significance and popularity among the drivers."