Budapest, Aug 5 (Motorsports) Mahaveer Raghunathan on Tuesday became the third Indian to test a Formula One car when he participated in a private session with Alfa Romeo Racing at the Hungaroring here.

Alfa Romeo conduced the private test alongside the Pirelli Tyre Development test done by the other teams. Mahaveer was an interesting choice for the Formula 1 team with the Indian not having the best of records in his single seater career.

He had finished 20th in F2 standings in 2019.

Mahaveer, the 22-year-old from Chennai, drove Alfa Romeo's C38 car on Tuesday. For Mahaveer it was his first ever run in an F1 car, with completing 71 laps on Tuesday before Theo Pourchaire took over the car on Wednesday.

Both learned the car on Sauber's simulator in Switzerland prior to the test. Mahaveer, the winner of the Boss GP series in 2017, said it was a dream come true moment for him.

"I have been looking forward to my first F1 test for quite a long time and it turned out to be a great day with Alfa Romeo F1 car. I have been preparing for this with the team for the past one week and I enjoyed a lot," said Mahaveer.

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"I have to thank the entire team at Sauber Motorsports for giving me this opportunity. I also owe it to my friend Luca Zerbini, who made this possible," added the 22-year-old.

Mahaveer is no stranger to the European racing circuit having also competed in Italian F4 (2014), Euro formula Open (2015), Auto GP (2016), GP3 series (2016) and Michelin Me Mans Cup (2018).

News source: PTI