McLaren has agreed on a deal with Aston Martin to allow their reserve drivers, Stoffel Vandoorne and Felipe Drugovich to race for the team if their services are required.
They can only be selected for the opening 15 rounds of the season, but also have Mick Schumacher within their ranks after agreeing on a deal with Mercedes.
Vandoorne is the reigning FIA Formula E World Champion, who is currently competing in the series with the DS Penske team. He spent the 2022 season with Mercedes-EQ alongside now Alpha Tauri driver Nyck de Vries. The duo were also reserve drivers for Mercedes and had a similar deal in place with McLaren for their services if required. However, he did not get to make an on-track appearance over the course of the season.
Drugovich is the current FIA Formula 2 Champion, after winning the title with MP Motorsport, without any backing from a Formula One team. He was snapped up fairly swiftly by the Silverstone team and is expected to take part in a number of FP1 sessions as the team attempt to fulfil their mandatory two rookie sessions across the season.
McLaren’s attempt at securing a number of drivers for this season is a smart move with both McLaren and Aston Martin struggling with driver absences over the past few seasons.
Sebastian Vettel missed the start of the 2022 season after being infected with Covid-19, while Daniel Ricciardo missed the opening of the 2022 pre-season test for the same reasons and missed the pre-season photo shoot.