Antonio Giovinazzi will return to the cockpit of Sauber’s C37 for the opening practice session at this weekend’s Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix, as part of his planned programme with the team.
Giovinazzi holds the role of reserve driver for both Ferrari and Sauber and carried out running during this year’s in-season test sessions for the respective teams.
Giovinazzi will replace regular Marcus Ericsson for the opening 90-minute session at the Sochi Autodrom on Friday, for his third FP1 of the year, having also had outings in Germany and Hungary.
The Italian remains a contender for a 2019 race seat at the team with which he started two Grands Prix last year as a late replacement for the unfit Pascal Wehrlein.
Sauber has already announced that Kimi Raikkonen will replace Ferrari-bound Charles Leclerc, but a team-mate for the 2007 World Champion has yet to be confirmed.
Giovinazzi has not raced full-time since finishing runner-up to Pierre Gasly in the 2016 GP2 Series.
He made his Le Mans debut with AF Corse in the GTE Pro division earlier this year and next month will return to sportscar action after inking a deal to race for Extreme Speed Motorsports at Petit Le Mans.
Giovinazzi is set to be one of three test/reserve drivers in action during FP1, with Artem Markelov and Nicholas Latifi poised to run for Renault and Force India respectively.
