Mercedes has reached an agreement with Alfa Romeo for Valtteri Bottas to make his debut for his new employers during post-race testing in Abu Dhabi.
Formula 1 is staying on at the Yas Marina Circuit for two days of testing on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Nine of the 10 teams – all bar Williams – will participate in the test, which will take place using mule cars, adapted to accommodate the new-for-2022 18-inch tires.
Bottas will move to Alfa Romeo on a multi-year deal from 2022 and Mercedes has given him the green light to debut for his new team next week.
In previous years some drivers have been held to existing contracts, which typically run through December 31, while others have allowed drivers to join their new teams early.
Before joining his new team for the test Bottas has one race left with Mercedes and he will start a relatively subdued sixth after a low-key Q3 display.
“I kind of hit a lap time limit,” said Bottas. “I think I actually did my best time in Q2 and I could never improve that.
“It felt like the more I tried, the set-up of my car didn’t have any more in it. The way I set-up my car, I went for quite a soft set-up, mechanically, because I feel it’s quite good for the race and I was hoping it would still be OK for qualifying, but the grip level was improving quite a lot.
“That’s one thing and one factor, the other one was that we had to change for an older power unit for today, which I knew that, at least compared to the power unit I had yesterday, it was going to cost me at least two tenths.”
Bottas accepted he is set to play a supporting role throughout Sunday’s race.
“I’m ready to sacrifice my optimal race because we really want both titles and I really want us to win both titles before I go,” he said. “I’m definitively going to do my part for the team to get both titles.”
