Lance Stroll is in a race against time to recover from his injuries in time to feature at the first race of the season.
The Canadian has already been ruled out of pre-season testing this week after an accident befell him while cycling in Spain. His Aston Martin team announced on Monday that Stroll had been sidelined, though chose to withhold details of his injuries.
Felipe Drugovich has been called up to replace the 24-year-old for testing. He will share duties with another of the team's new recruits for 2023, Fernando Alonso, who is preparing for his first season with Aston Martin at the age of 41.
Formula 2 champion Drugovich is the founding member of the team's newly-established driver academy and shares reserve driver duties with Formula E title-winner Stoffel Vandoorne. But the Belgian was not available for testing this week due to a clash with the Cape Town E-Prix.
The Brazilian will be first out on track for Aston Martin at testing, in the Thursday morning session in Bahrain, before Alonso takes over in the afternoon. Their Friday and Saturday plans have not yet been confirmed, but it is expected that their time on track will be split evenly.
With less than two weeks to go until the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, it is not known whether Stroll will recover in time to play a part. Aston Martin's backup plan if the Canadian is not fit in time is also under wraps, though their decision to give Drugovich some time behind the wheel is a strong hint at what it might be.
After all, the team could have chosen to give Alonso all three days to get to grips with his new car. It would be very physically demanding for the 41-year-old but Lando Norris – admittedly a much younger man – did it last year for McLaren and it would give the Spaniard more time to get used to his new car.
By calling up Drugovich, the team appears to he hedging its bets ahead of the race in Bahrain. If Stroll is not fully fit, then it can at least call upon the Brazilian to step in and make his F1 debut with some practice under his belt, rather than going into it cold.
Aston Martin said: "[Stroll's] fitness to return to the cockpit will be assessed daily and the team will issue an update ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. The team wishes Lance a speedy recovery and looks forward to his usual energy and commitment within the team."
