Red Bull junior and Honda-backed driver Ayumu Iwasa will get his first taste of Formula 1 machinery when he completes testing duties for AlphaTauri in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The Japanese racer is currently third in the F2 championship, having scored three wins, with one round to go this weekend.
F2 FINALE: Pourchaire, Vesti and Iwasa gear up for three-way title showdown in Abu Dhabi
He’s 39 points adrift of championship leader Theo Pourchaire, and must take wins in both the Sprint and Feature races, plus pole and both fastest laps – with his French rival not scoring – to take the title.
The 22-year-old will get a full day of running at Yas Island in this year’s AlphaTauri AT04 on Tuesday.
The Italian team will run a second car, which will be focused on Pirelli tyre testing, with Daniel Ricciardo driving in the morning and Yuki Tsunoda taking over in the afternoon.
Iwasa will head back to Japan to make his debut in the prestigious Super Formula single-seater series in 2024.
It will be his first season racing on home soil since 2019, having raced in Europe since 2020 – the Japanese driver winning the French F4 title that year, finishing 12th in F3 in 2021 and fifth in F2 in 2022.
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