Breaking news
Formula 1
Di Resta on standby for McLaren in Silverstone
Paul di Resta will be on standby at McLaren for this weekend’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone after undergoing a seat fitting for the team on Wednesday.
Luke Smith
Edited: Aug 5, 2020, 4:52 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
McLaren has an agreement with Mercedes to share its reserves - Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Gutierrez - should regular drivers Carlos Sainz or Lando Norris be ruled out of the race weekend.
But with Vandoorne in Berlin for the Formula E season finale and Gutierrez ineligible to race, McLaren has announced that ex-Force India driver di Resta will be its nominated reserve for this weekend.
“As we have previously confirmed, we have an arrangement with Mercedes to use their reserve drivers in the event either Carlos or Lando are unable to race,” a statement from McLaren reads.
“With Stoffel Vandoorne unavailable due to his Formula E commitments and Esteban Gutierrez currently not eligible for a superlicence, Paul di Resta will be our standby driver this weekend.
"Paul carried out a seat fit at the MTC this morning in compliance with the FIA COVID-19 protocols but will not be in close contact with the McLaren race team unless needed.
“Paul will continue his duties with Sky Sports F1 this weekend as planned.”
Di Resta spent three seasons racing in F1 with Force India between 2011 and 2013, but made a surprise appearance at the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix for Williams after Felipe Massa came down ill on Saturday morning.
The 34-year-old raced in DTM after losing his full-time F1 drive before moving into sports car racing, and is currently part of United Autosports’ LMP2 line-up in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
It emerged on Sunday that Gutierrez was ineligible to race in F1 after Racing Point was forced to call on Nico Hulkenberg to replace Sergio Perez following his positive test for COVID-19.
Racing Point has a similar agreement in place with Mercedes, and was considering Gutierrez for the drive in parallel with Hulkenberg.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed on Sunday that Gutierrez must complete 300 km of running in order to earn his race licence as he has not raced in F1 for the past three seasons, under an updated rule for 2020.
Di Resta fulfils this criteria by virtue of his one-off appearance for Williams, where he retired from the race.
Read Also:
- Mercedes has no firm plans to let Gutierrez get F1 race licence
- Hulkenberg: British GP DNS fitting after crazy days
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Mercedes insists DAS didn't play any role in tyre failures
Next article Hamilton better than Senna and Schumacher, says Walker
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Luke Smith
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
Formula 1
Formula 1
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Formula 1
Formula 1
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
More from
Paul di Resta
When Paul Di Resta beat Sebastian Vettel to the F3 title
F3
F3
When Paul Di Resta beat Sebastian Vettel to the F3 title
Paul Di Resta cautious about the WEC's future: "What's good never lasts forever"
WEC
WEC
Paul Di Resta cautious about the WEC's future: "What's good never lasts forever"
Why Peugeot swapped Jean-Eric Vergne for Stoffel Vandoorne in WEC 2026
WEC
WEC
Bahrain
Why Peugeot swapped Jean-Eric Vergne for Stoffel Vandoorne in WEC 2026
More from
McLaren
Why McLaren gave team order to Oscar Piastri in F1 US GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
20 h
Why McLaren gave team order to Oscar Piastri in F1 US GP
Who slept worst last night: Lando Norris
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Who slept worst last night: Lando Norris
Latest news
F1-level excess: How Manuel Reuter won the ITC title with Opel 30 years ago
DTM
DTM DTM 31 min
F1-level excess: How Manuel Reuter won the ITC title with Opel 30 years ago
Toto Wolff dismisses Helmut Marko's Russell theory: "He still has what it takes"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
54 min
Toto Wolff dismisses Helmut Marko's Russell theory: "He still has what it takes"
5 things you never knew about the Automobile Club de l’Ouest
Sponsored
Sponsored 1 h
5 things you never knew about the Automobile Club de l’Ouest
Jorge Martin hopeful of racing in Malaysia after "not complete" fracture diagnosis
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
1 h
Jorge Martin hopeful of racing in Malaysia after "not complete" fracture diagnosis
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe