De Vries has McLaren seat fit after Norris hit with food poisoning
Norris skipped Thursday’s media day at Sao Paulo after contracting food poisoning and becoming unwell following his arrival in Brazil.
The Briton did not travel to the circuit on Thursday and instead stayed in his hotel to rest.
Although McLaren expect Norris to recover in time to take part in Friday’s on-track action, the team have been preparing de Vries just in case.
As a Mercedes reserve driver de Vries is available to be used by Mercedes’ customer teams if needed.
The Dutchman had a precautionary seat fit with McLaren on Thursday.
He has already made a substitute appearance this season when he stood-in as a last-minute replacement for Alex Albon when the Williams driver was ruled out of the Italian Grand Prix with appendicitis.
De Vries impressed by scoring points on his grand prix debut with a superb drive to ninth at Monza, and has since landed a full-time seat with AlphaTauri for F1 2023.
