Vesti tipped for Mercedes F1 run in Abu Dhabi young driver test

The test will feature two cars per team, with race drivers running with the definitive 2023 Pirelli tyres in one car, and rookies – defined as those with no more than two Grand Prix starts – in the other.

Mercedes has a rookie slot available because Nyck de Vries has been released to drive for AlphaTauri, as recently confirmed by Franz Tost, the Faenza outfit’s boss.

Vesti was announced as a Mercedes junior driver in January 2021, and he is the most qualified candidate in the Stuttgart manufacturer’s programme.

Giving him a run in the W13 would be a logical move as he has already been doing some simulator running for the team in Brackley, and is set to do more in 2023 as both de Vries and occasional sim driver Stoffel Vandoorne are leaving the Mercedes camp.

A day in the W13 will provide Vesti with valuable experience of the real car and help with correlation.

The 20-year-old has an impressive CV. A star in karting, he progressed quickly through Danish Formula Ford and both the Danish and ADAC F4 series, finishing fourth in the latter in 2018.

Frederik Vesti, ART Grand Prix

Photo by: FIA Formula 2

He won the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship in 2019 with Prema, before moving to FIA F3 with the same team in 2020, as team mate to Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant.

That year he scored three feature race wins, and finished fourth in the championship behind Piastri, Theo Pourchaire and Sargeant.

Having attracted Mercedes support he moved to ART for his second F3 season in 2021, It was a less productive season overall with just one race win, although he again finished fourth in the championship.

This season he moved up to F2 with ART. He won the sprint race in Baku and has this far logged four other podiums, including second places in both the sprint and feature events at Monza last month.

He lies eighth in the championship with just the Abu Dhabi finale to come, and is only nine points shy of fourth place.