McLaren will share Mercedes F1 reserves again

McLaren drove without their own nominated reserve driver last season after agreeing to seek assistance from Mercedes if necessary.

Mercedes currently has Formula E drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries as official reserves, and both of them already know McLaren.

Vandoorne drove for his F1 operation in 2017 and 2018, and logic suggests that it would be relatively easy for the Belgian to intervene if necessary.

De Vries was previously a McLaren junior driver but didn’t try an F1 car until he drove a Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi test in December.

“We’ll do the same thing by our side as we did last year,” said team boss Andreas Seidl.

“We will again come to an agreement with Toto, with Mercedes, to use their substitute drivers in an emergency. We are satisfied with that. “

While McLaren has announced its plans for replacement drivers, Mercedes is talking to freelance agent Nico Hulkenberg as a potential supersub if one of its reserves is not available.

Vandoorne and de Vries both have Formula E commitments currently clashing with the Spanish, Monaco and Azerbaijan GPs in the first half of the year, and there could be more clashes later in the season.

Nico Hülkenberg, Racing Point, on the starting grid

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Mercedes hopes to have Hulkenberg available for these weekends and possibly share the German’s services with the partner team Aston Martin.

Hülkenberg was in the former Racing Point outfit three times in 2020 when first Sergio Perez and then Lance Stroll were sidelined after positive COVID tests.

“There is a situation where our two reserve drivers, Stoffel and Nyck, drive in Formula E and there are certain races in which there are overlaps,” said Wolff when asked by Autosport after Mercedes’ talks with Hulkenberg.

“I think Nico knows the current generation of F1 cars and the tires. And it would be good to have him in the line-up as a solution, perhaps to be shared with other teams, because he is a well-known figure and highly regarded.

“It would be good, but it isn’t [done] nevertheless we did not put a pen on paper. “

It is understood that Hulkenberg is talking to Aston Martin about resuming his spare role in 2021, but like Mercedes, no deal has been agreed.