Colton Herta will test McLaren's 2021 car for two days in Portugal, while the team decides which driver to take for the mandatory rookie test in Formula 1 free practice
McLaren has confirmed that it will conduct three days of tests with its model from last year, the MCL35M, starting this Monday (11) in Portimão. And during the first two days, the person responsible for driving the British team's single-seater will be the American Colton Herta, Andretti's starter at Indy and a driver from the British team's program - who still dreams of a future F1 spot.
The confirmation was made by McLaren's own boss, Andreas Seidl, who acknowledged the importance of testing young drivers on the track in a year in which all Formula 1 teams are required to hold two free practices with rookie drivers in the category.
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"As we communicated, the agreement with Colton [Herta] is that we give him a chance to drive our Formula One car to show what he can do," Seidl told the British portal Autosport. "Now we have the possibility to test cars from a year ago. The goal is to see how he is doing, and as you know, we have to do two free practices this year with a young driver," he explained.
Besides Herta, another to get a chance with the team's single-seater will be Britain's Will Stevens, currently a simulator driver for McLaren, who will take the cockpit on the final day. Seidl confirmed that testing will be part of the decision on who will be responsible for driving the car in one of the practices, and stressed the importance of getting the Englishman on the track so he can get the real feel of the car.
"And once we have tested all the candidates we want to give a chance with our car, we will decide who will take part in the free practice session," he stressed. "We'll give Colton two days, and then I think we'll use one or two of our simulator drivers just to make sure they have the fresh experience of driving a McLaren car on the track as well," he finished.