New Williams Formula 1 test driver Felipe Nasr eyes GP2 campaign
Felipe Nasr expects to dovetail a title assault in GP2 with his duties as Williams's test and reserve driver in Formula 1 in 2014
The 2011 British Formula 3 champion confirmed his new role overnight and made his driving debut with Williams in the final day of the second pre-season test at Bahrain on Saturday.
He plans to return to race in the series in which he finished fourth last season for Carlin, alongside five free practice outings and a total of three tests for Williams in F1.
Nasr has yet to confirm the team he will race for, but the only frontrunning seats still available are with his former team Carlin, or alongside European Formula 3 champion Raffaele Marciello at Racing Engineering.
"I will probably do another year in GP2," said Nasr, who completed 87 laps and set the fourth fastest time during his first test for Williams in Bahrain.
"There are not many teams [left], only two, but it's in the plan and we're still talking to them."
Nasr also hailed the change in GP2 tyre rules for this year, designed to bring tyre strategy in feature races closer to F1.
"I think it was a good thing they changed the regulation for this year because now you must use the two compounds of tyre in race one, which makes a lot more sense," added Nasr.
"Sometimes in GP2 I was leading a race and suddenly had someone on two hard prime tyres, which don't degrade as much, so you can make a later pitstop, [challenging me].
"But if I'm playing for the championship I have to play on the conservative side to make sure I score in both races, whereas some people just go for race one and that's it. So I think it should be a good thing."
2014 GP2 line-up so far: Russian Time Mitch Evans Artem Markelov Carlin Julian Leal Racing Engineering Raffaele Marciello DAMS Jolyon Palmer Stephane Richelmi ART Stoffel Vandoorne Takuya Izawa Hilmer Daniel Abt Facu Regalia Rapax Simon Trummer Arden Rene Binder Andre Negrao Caterham Alexander Rossi Rio Haryanto MP Daniel de Jong Trident Lazarus Campos Arthur Pic Kimiya Sato
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