O’Sullivan will get further mileage in the rookie test that follows the race weekend, where he will share driving duties in the second FW45 with fellow Formula 3 graduate Franco Colapinto.
2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award winner O’Sullivan emerged as the best-placed of the four Willams juniors in the F3 series, logging four wins on his way to second place behind recent McLaren signing Gabriel Bortoleto.
The 18-year-old only just outscored Colapinto, who won twice and was only nine points adrift in fourth place. He will graduate to F2 with ART next year.
O’Sullivan passed the first step of qualifying for a free-practice only F1 super licence thanks to the points he accrued in F3 and GB3, but he also had to complete 300kms in what the FIA regulations call “a representative” F1 car.
He achieved that when Williams arranged for him to drive Alpine’s A521 in a private test in Bahrain last month.
O’Sullivan had previously driven an F1 car, having completed 32 laps of Silverstone in an Aston Martin AMR21 in October last year as part of his Autosport prize.
He will replace Alex Albon in Abu Dhabi, while Logan Sargeant’s Bahrain debut counted as a rookie run with the other car.
Source: Autosport