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McLaren signs Sette Camara as test and development driver

Brazilian driver Sergio Sette Camara has been signed up by McLaren to serve as their test and development driver in 2019.

The 20-year-old replaces Lando Norris in the role, with the Briton moving up to a full-time race seat at Woking next season.

Sette Camara is currently competing alongside Norris for the Carlin team in the Formula 2 championship. He scored his maiden F2 victory last year at Spa-Francorchamps and is currently in sixth place in the 2018 standings.

He's finished on the podium eight times this season, including second place in the most recent outing at Sochi. The race was won by ART's George Russell, who is currently leading the championship and already signed to make his F1 début with Williams next year.

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“It’s my dream to one day become a Formula 1 driver, and I’d like to thank McLaren for giving me this incredible opportunity," said Sette Camara, who has previous experience racing in Formula 3 European Championship, Toyota Racing Series and Formula 3 Brasil.

"My aim is to integrate myself in the team and work as closely with them as possible," he added. "To listen, learn and help to develop as a driver, as well as support McLaren."

Sette Camara made his F1 test début in 2016 with the Toro Rosso team and was a former member of the Red Bull junior programme before switching to F2 in 2017.

The team said that as well as working closely with the F1 squad as part of his development, he will also provide valuable support to its racing programme for 2019.

“We’re delighted to welcome Sergio to McLaren and our Young Driver Programme," said McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran.

"We’ve been following his progress for some time and believe he is a promising young talent with a real potential.

"We’re looking forward to working with him to develop his skills as a well-rounded driver, while having him support our racing operations.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.