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Having contracted the coronavirus, Lewis Hamilton will be ineligible for the Sahir Grand Prix this weekend and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ending the season in question. Mercedes has yet to decide who will replace him, and the team’s reserve driver only knows that he will travel to Bahrain.
After Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll, the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has also been infected with the coronavirus, so the Mercedes driver has been in quarantine for 10 days, so he will definitely not be able to participate in the Sahir Grand Prix this weekend. Hamilton’s symptoms are mild, but mandatory precautions are taken seriously.
This is an unexpected situation at Mercedes, which has been running an F1 team in its current form since 2010, during which time they employed only four drivers, never needing a jump driver. This time, there are more candidates available and essentially every driver with an F1 license would love to drive the best car in the field.
The obvious solution would be Stoffel Vandoorne, who is the team’s official test driver, is also recommended by Mercedes to their client teams, Racing Point and McLaren, but the Silverstone stable invited Nico Hülkenberg when a replacement was needed. Mercedes hinted Monday afternoon that they were not primarily preparing to summon Vandoorne.
“We are sad that Lewis is not competing this weekend, but we have yet to do our work on Sahir,” the team wrote on Twitter. – Many people speculate who will lead the World Cup [Valtteri Bottas] side. As soon as this is resolved, we will let you know! We hope you love it at Mercedes, as always! “
The 28-year-old Vandoorne has started in the McLaren colors a total of 41 times, starting his F1 career in the McLaren colors in 2016 when he had to jump in place of Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Following the retirement of Jenson Button, he was able to spend two full seasons with Alonso, but failed to achieve an outstanding result in 2018 from his teammate who was eliminated in all time trials.
Nonetheless, Mercedes has signed him to Formula E, winning 24 races so far, and he has also been designated as a reserve driver for the F1 stable, but he has yet to have a realistic chance of returning to F1. Vandoorne was still testing Formula E in Valencia on Tuesday, revealing at a press conference that he still doesn’t know if he will get a shot in F1.
I have a contract with Mercedes as a reserve driver, but they decide He admitted. “In Formula 1, contracts don’t always mean anything, but I’m sure: if something happens, I usually get in the car,” he said. – There is a possibility that it will run on Sunday, but let’s wait. I don’t know at the moment. I’m going to fly to Bahrain tomorrow, maybe I’ll find out there. “
The Belgian athlete added, informing Mercedes around 7 a.m. that Hamilton’s coronavirus test came back positive, an hour before the announcement. “Since then, however, I have really been waiting. I couldn’t really think about that because I’m focusing on the Formula E test here. That is the priority today. Anyway, I’ll go to Bahrain tomorrow, so we’ll see. “
Vandoorne’s number one opponent could be George Russell, a member of the Mercedes talent search program who was previously the team’s test driver, but is currently linked to Williams, and is likely to be delivered by the Grove stable to the stable. of world champions for just compensation.
A Racingnews365.nl As far as he knows, Mercedes would prefer Russell to drive Mercedes, in which case Williams could give a seat to British driver Jack Aitken, the super-graduate. The article is co-authored by Dieter Rencken, a Racing fans correspondent.
