Fernando Alonso will be the sole driver behind the wheel of the Aston Martin AMR23 on Saturday as the team continues to hold out for news regarding Lance Stroll.
Stroll was forced to skip pre-season testing in Bahrain after he was involved in a recent biking accident.
Aston Martin confirmed that he injured his wrist, but is hopeful that he will return to the cockpit for the opening grand prix next weekend.
Felipe Drugovich was called up to stand in for Stroll during the first morning of pre-season testing on Friday.
But for Saturday, Alonso, who drove the car during the afternoon session today, will take part in the full eight and a half hours of testing time.
Aston Martin is still awaiting news on Stroll’s condition and has thus far refused to rule him out of contenting the season-opener in Bahrain.
“He was training, trying to work on his fitness last week, he was cycling,” said team boss Mike Krack.
“He has a small incident and hurt himself and for precautionary reasons, we decided it’s better to wait a little bit and be ready next week.”
Should Stroll be unable to compete in Bahrain, Drugovich would be a favourite to make his grand prix debut in just over one weeks’ time.
However, Aston Martin also has Stoffel Vandoorne to choose from as the reigning Formula E World Champion has signed as a reserve driver for the upcoming year.
For Alonso, the full day of testing should prove to be valuable track time as he continues to get up to speed with his new team.
“Overall I am pleased with the first official day of testing here in Bahrain in the AMR23,” he said after his first session.
“As a team, we reached 100 laps in total, which is a strong start for the first day despite some minor issues that we resolved.
“We are still experimenting with lots of different things, so every lap we do is important and we learn something new about the car every time we go out.
“These first steps are always intriguing and so far I am enjoying this part of the winter preparation. We will use the information and learning from today to optimise things further tomorrow.”
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