Formula Two racer Artem Markelov will make his Formula 1 test debut at the Hungaroring next week, Renault has announced.
Markelov, who lies fourth in the F2 points standings and has won three times this year, will drive on Wednesday. Nico Hulkenberg will drive on Tuesday.The 23-year-old from Moscow has been racing in F2 (previously known as GP2) since 2014 for the Russian Time team. He finished runner-up to Charles Leclerc in the championship last year.
Among the other teams to have confirmed their driver line-up for the test are Force India, who will run test drivers Nicholas Latifi and Nikita Mazepin will share the VJM11. Williams will have Robert Kubica and Oliver Rowland in its cars.
Haas is the only team which has said it will not participate in the test. Team principal Guenther Steiner said they stood to gain too little from running their car again following a spell of five races within six weeks. Haas also conducted a tyre test for Pirelli at Silverstone following the British Grand Prix.
The two days of running will be the teams’ last opportunity to conduct in-season development testing outside of a race weekend. The only other tests scheduled before the final race of the season are for tyre evaluation.
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Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
24th July 2018, 11:42
About time!
Neil (@neilosjames)
24th July 2018, 12:25
One of my favourite F2 drivers to watch!
Dave
24th July 2018, 14:26
Mine too – he’s an exciting driver to watch and often pulls off some jammy moves! I hope he wins the F2 title this year! It’ll be a long shot cos I think George Russell will but, still, come on Artem!
Thomas Bennett (@felipemassadobrasil)
24th July 2018, 13:04
Keith, when will the mid season driver rankings be out?
pastaman (@)
24th July 2018, 13:04
Wait, an actual talented driver getting seat time? Amazing!
stjs16 (@stjs16)
24th July 2018, 18:42
+1 , does seems to have great tyre management. More deserving than Latifi.
Sundar Srinivas Harish (@sundark)
25th July 2018, 3:03
On a more serious note, I wonder if it is because the drivers and engineers are burnt out, or if it is to conserve some cash. If it is for the first reason, they’re letting go of an easy opportunity to give Maini some seat time.
MacLeod (@macleod)
25th July 2018, 8:06
Probally both Haas is just a small team.
Bleu (@bleu)
25th July 2018, 11:56
I wonder if case Ferrucci is part of the decision. As both Grosjean and Magnussen were driving in Barcelona that means they needed non-race drivers to conduct testing on both days. Without the incident, I think Ferrucci could have been driving at the test.