Lando Norris gets Russian GP practice outing

Lando Norris, consistently beaten by George Russell in F1

Lando Norris will return to the cockpit of McLaren’s MCL33 for the opening practice session at this weekend’s Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix.

Norris will graduate to Formula 1 with McLaren in 2019 as part of an all-new driver line-up, with he and current Renault racer Carlos Sainz Jr. replacing Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne.

Norris, the reigning Formula 3 champion, currently holds second place in the Formula 2 title race, 22 points behind Mercedes-backed George Russell.

Norris will hop straight from McLaren’s MCL33 to his Carlin-run F2/18 for the feeder series’ sole practice session, replicating the timetable he encountered in Belgium and Italy.

This weekend’s Sochi round is the penultimate event for the series, with only Abu Dhabi to come.

Norris will be one of four test/reserve drivers in action during the first 90-minute session at Sochi on Friday.

Artem Markelov (Renault), Nicholas Latifi (Force India) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Sauber) are all slated to run for their respective teams.

Norris is likely to participate in most of the remaining FP1s this year.