Felipe Massa will drive a Formula E car for the first time next week after being given a test drive for Panasonic Jaguar Racing.
Massa was rumoured to be close to accepting a drive in Formula E before he confirmed that he would return to Formula 1 with Williams following the departure of Valtteri Bottas.
And after talking about wanting to compete in Formula E in the future, Jaguar accepted a request from the series organisers to give him a test.
Williams have close links to the Jaguar team due to their link technical alliance through Williams Advanced Engineering.
In a statement from the Jaguar team they said, “Panasonic Jaguar Racing received a request from Formula E to give Felipe Massa the chance to experience a Formula E car.
“We are happy to provide this opportunity.”
Despite admitting that he had been actively looking for drives in other series, Massa insisted that this would not impact his preparations for the 2017 Formula E season.
Massa said, “Since announcing my retirement last year, I had been assessing my options and there were a number of opportunities presented to me that I could have pursued.
“However, I have made my decision and therefore this is now my focus.”
Should Massa retire at the end of the 2017 F1 season, he would still be able to compete in season four of Formula E, after the series’ CEO Alejandro Agag intimated that he would be happy for it to begin as late as December – well after the end of the F1 calendar.
