British teenager George Russell will get his first taste of Lewis Hamilton's 2017 Mercedes car at a Formula One young driver test in August.
The 19-year-old, who hails from Norfolk, was signed by Hamilton's Mercedes team to their young driver programme earlier this year.
Russell, who is competing in feeder series GP3 this season, in which he is fifth in the championship, will take part in the two-day test at the Hungaroring which follows the Hungarian Grand Prix.
"I've probably driven more virtual laps than anyone else with this car so it's going to be incredible to drive it in reality," said Russell, who has already completed a number of miles in the team's simulator this year.
"My biggest priority is to do a good job for the team, to tick off the items on the engineers' programme and make sure we get the most out of the car and our running over the two days."
Russell, who finished third in the European Formula Three championship last season, is following in the footsteps of Esteban Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein - both of whom are part of the Mercedes young driver academy and have landed full-time seats with other teams in Formula One.
Ocon, 20, drives for Force India, while 22-year-old Wehrlein is racing for Sauber this term.
Source: PA
