Aston Martin: Drugovich underlined great job he’s done all year

The performance prompted Aston Martin to praise his time in the car at Yas Marina Circuit and added that his outing today underlined "what a great job he’s done for us all year."

Brazil's 2022 FIA Formula 2 Champion completed 26 laps in the 60-minute outing, with a PB of 1:26.360, which was good for second on the timing screens. Only Mercedes' George Russell was faster at the end of FP1.

Drugovich will be back in action for the team when he takes part in the end-of-season F1 Young Driver Test at Yas Marina Circuit after the Grand Prix.

Drugovich said of his FP1 session of the season: "It feels good! I really enjoyed it out there. The start of the session was primarily focused on some aerodynamic testing, so I had a rake attached to the car. That meant putting in some steady and consistent laps to make sure we were collecting the data we need to optimise the set-up for the upcoming sessions.

"After that, I was given some soft tyres and allowed to push, which is always the best bit. The car felt quick – we’ve made progress since Monza – and I think we’re starting the weekend off in a good place."

“Now I’m looking forward to supporting the team this weekend and getting back on track on Tuesday for the end-of-season young driver test. Having a full day of running is always beneficial to get into a good rhythm and to find the limits of the car," added Drugovich

Aston Martin performance boss Tom McCullough was also impressed: “We went into today’s FP1 session running different set-ups on Lance and Felipe’s cars – which proved extremely fruitful from a data-gathering perspective.

"Felipe drove with great maturity and assurance in the session, underlining what a great job he’s done for us all year. While the first session wasn’t really about setting headline times, he put in some quick laps at the end and his efforts gave us a solid baseline for the rest of the weekend.

"Today’s work also means we can hit the ground running on Tuesday when Felipe returns to the AMR23 for the young driver test," concluded McCullough.

Aston Martin veteran Fernando Alonso made way for Drugovich, as part of the team's mandatory two FP1 runs for rookies during the course of the season. Stroll in the other AMR23, was P5, almost three-tenths down on the rookie in the other Green car.