McLaren set to run two cars in Abu Dhabi tyre test

The move would potentially give Lando Norris an opportunity to log some more F1 miles.

All teams have shared out Pirelli's 2018 development running this year, but McLaren lost its final session due to security concerns, highlighted by an incident involving personnel from the tyre company.

The cancellation also cost Norris a valuable day of running, but the F3 champion will now have an opportunity to run some miles next week, alongside race drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, both of whom are expected to sample the 2018 tyres.

Pirelli has asked FIA race director Charlie Whiting to formally approve the plan, and if it goes ahead McLaren will have one car testing the range of 2018 tyres alongside the other nine teams, and one doing "blind" development work for Pirelli.

Although the 2018 tyres have already been defined – Interlagos was supposed to be the final chance to prove the harder compounds in the range – Pirelli says it still has work that McLaren can undertake.

McLaren, meanwhile, is ready with a car and has engine mileage available, and it has personnel on standby to stay in Abu Dhabi to run the extra car.

"We want to try to recover some of the testing we missed in Brazil," Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola told Motorsport.com.

"Obviously we have to review the run plan, because we can't run the harder compounds here, it make no sense, so we'll be testing some different items. We are waiting final confirmation from the FIA."

There is a precedent for combining "blind" testing with regular running, as Mercedes ran two cars in Budapest in August, with Valtteri Bottas working for Pirelli and George Russell on team duty.