Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti br promoted to be the team’s second reserve driver in 2024 after spending the last two seasons in Formula 2 with ART and Prema.
Vesti will partner Mick Schumacher in the role, who won't be able to devote as much time to it as he did last season due to his endurance racing commitments.
The youngster will not be returning to the F2 grid in 2024, having been replaced by the new kid on Mercedes’ block – Andrea Kimi Antonelli, at Prema.
The Dane finished runner-up last season, just 11 points behind eventual champion Theo Pourchaire who won with Vesti’s former outfit ART.
Frederik Vesti could be in contention to replace Lewis Hamilton who leaves the team after 2024
Vesti steps up for Mercedes
The promotion means that he will get the opportunity to cover Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at some weekends this year alongside his European Le Mans commitments with Cool Racing.
Speaking to GPblog, Mercedes said: “Mick has some clashes with his WEC programme, so we will need two reserves this season.”
Vesti has been a part of the Mercedes junior team for three years and will finally get an opportunity to step up and show them what he is capable of.
If he can impress engineers with his work ethic and speed, he may just be a dark horse candidate for a future Mercedes seat.
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