Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will undertake a two-day test conducted by Mercedes at Silverstone next week ahead of the season-opener in July.
The two-day run at the Northamptonshire venue marks a ramping-up of preparations for the upcoming season following an extensive shutdown period brought on by the pandemic.
A tweet from the Brackley-based team confirmed that its drivers will get one day of running each in a 2018 Mercedes car.
While in-season testing of current cars is prohibited, Mercedes’ use of an older car allows them to conduct the test.
The rules states that teams can run cars that were “designed and built in order to comply with the Formula 1 Technical Regulations of any of the three calendar years falling immediately prior to the calendar year preceding the championship.”
Mercedes needs to follow normal testing procedures for the run, and inform the FIA of the cars being used, the drivers, the nature of the test, the duration of the test and its purpose.
The Silverstone test is being used as an opportunity by Mercedes to help both Hamilton and Bottas get back up to speed with F1 machinery.
For the team members, it will be an chance to get used to working with the kind of restrictions that will be in force for the Austrian GP weekend – which will include the use of social distancing measures, face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE).
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