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Interesting choice of McLaren: Third reserve driver appointed

Interesting choice of McLaren: Third reserve driver appointed

16-04-2021 12:59 Last update: 13:12

GPblog.com

McLaren has hired a third reserve driver in addition to Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries: former F1 driver Paul di Resta will be on standby when the other two drivers are unavailable.

When a replacement is needed for Lando Norris or Daniel Ricciardo and de Vries and Vandoorne are unable to board the McLaren, the team will call upon Di Resta. For the Scot, it won't be the first time he's been called upon to fill in, in fact, he did so once before for Williams in Hungary 2017, when Felipe Massa was suddenly unable to race.

Vandoorne and de Vries will not always be available

"As you know also with what we would have had in place last year in Silverstone, we have a good relationship also with Paul di Resta, who is also in possession of a super licence. So we have an agreement with him as well in order to jump in if the requirement is there. So we're prepared for different scenarios", team principal Andreas Seidl is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.

Both Vandoorne and de Vries have a connection with McLaren, de Vries was a long time McLaren junior and Vandoorne has driven two full seasons in Formula One for the team. Currently, the two drivers drive for the Formula E team of Mercedes. Di Resta himself drove 58 races during his time with Force India between 2011 and 2013.