McLaren will not be able to complete any on-track running before Friday practice in Austria due to a clause in their Renault contract it’s been revealed.
This week, Mercedes conducted a two-day test at Silverstone to practice the procedures put into place to protect against Covid-19 as well as give their drivers a chance to shed some rust.
Ferrari is expected to do likewise at Fiorano, while Racing Point has confirmed they too will do a filming day with their 2020 car.
But under the regulations that Mercedes and Ferrari used, it is stipulated that any car must be at least two years old and thus Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas drove the 2018 car as a result.
McLaren though is unable to use their own 2018 machine because, according to GPFans, engine supplier Renault will not cover the running of any older-spec cars.
Of course, before the French manufacturer, McLaren was supplied by Honda and even further back by Mercedes ruling out using those cars too.
Instead: “As you’ve seen already, Lando [Norris] was doing some karting and some F3 testing,” team boss Andreas Seidl told Sky Sports of preparations.
“We started with the race team again last week [in the factory], so we are preparing the cars at the moment, trying to go through a lot of procedures and processes in the garage under the new circumstances, with all the social distancing, etc.
“[I am] quite happy with the steps we are taking here as a team. Also, with what we know now, with the process that has been outlined from the FIA and Formula 1 in terms of how we execute the race weekend in Austria, we have clarity there as well.
“Now it’s important to simply focus on preparation over the next three or four weeks, and hopefully we have a good start in Austria.”
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