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The test uses two cars per team, with the racers running the final 2023 Pirelli tires on one car and the rookies – defined as drivers with no more than two Grand Prix starts – on the other car.
Mercedes has a rookie spot as Nyck de Vries has been released to drive for AlphaTauri, Faenza team boss Franz Tost recently confirmed.
Vesti, who was announced as a Mercedes junior driver in January 2021, is the most qualified candidate in the Stuttgart manufacturer’s program.
Getting him to race in the W13 would be the logical move, as he’s already done some sim runs for Brackley’s team, and with de Vries and occasional sim driver Stoffel Vandoorne both gone Mercedes camp, he will do more in 2023.
A day at W13 will provide Vesti with valuable real-world experience and help with correlation.
The 20-year-old has an impressive resume. A star in the karting world, he made rapid progress in the Danish Formula Ford and the Danish and ADAC F4 series, finishing fourth in the latter in 2018.
Frederik Vesti, ART Grand Prix
Photography: FIA Formula 2
He won the inaugural European Formula Championship with Prema in 2019 before moving to FIA F3 with the same team in 2020 as team-mate with Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant.
He had three race victories that year and finished fourth behind Piastri, Theo Pourchaire and Sargeant.
After attracting support from Mercedes, he switched to ART for his second F3 season in 2021, and although he finished fourth again, he was less efficient all season, winning just one race.
This season, he moved up to F2 with ART. He won the sprint in Baku and has four other podiums so far, including second in the sprint and featured event at Monza last month.
With the Abu Dhabi final approaching, he is eighth in the tournament, nine points shy of fourth.
He’s just a few spots away from getting an F1 super licence, which would make him a potential reserve driver for any team that might need a super licence.
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