Gerhard Berger was present in Hungary to look over his nephew Lucas Auer, who drove a Formula 1 car for the very first time. The Austrian tested for Force India on both Tuesday and Wednesday, splitting duties with Nikita Mazepin.
Over the two days of running, Auer completed 103 laps with a fastest time of 1:19.242. Berger said that he was impressed by the DTM driver's showing: "I think Lucas was able to show what he could do," said the former F1 driver.
Auer is currently competing for the 2017 DTM championship title but has a dark cloud over his head after Mercedes announced that it would be pulling out of the German touring car series following the 2018 season. Instead, it will focus its resources in Formula E.
"Of course that complicates the situation," Berger, who is also the DTM series boss, admitted. "If a driver has to go from one car to another after a few laps, it's a demo rather than a race, but maybe it will be different in the future. I absolutely assume that there will be a DTM even after 2019."
Berger also spoke about the young drivers present at the test earlier this week, believing that it is very hard to judge how they really did: "The teams all use different strategies. McLaren, for example, sent Lando Norris out every time with empty tanks."
Fergal Walsh
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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