McLaren has confirmed Lando Norris will fe🏅ature in the opening Formula 1 practice session for the Russian Grand Prix weekend in Sochi th꧑is Friday, combining the outing with his Formula 2 race duties.

F2 title contender Norris was confirmed earlier this month to be stepping up into a full-time McLaren F1 seat🉐 in 2019, having impressed the team during his F1 practice outings at Spa and Monza.

McLaren confirmed it would be giving Norris a number of additional FP1 outings across th🍌e remainder of the 2018 season in order to help his preparation for his F1 debut next year, with his next appearance coming in Russia this Friday.

Despite previously saying it would not look to enter Norris to FP1 on weekends where he also had F2 duties, the British youngster will now feature atౠ the Sochi Autodrom behind the wheel of the McLaren MCL3💦3.

"Lando will once again drive in FP1 in Russia, wh🦩ich will be a busy weekend for him, as he combines his F1 duties with his F2 championship campaign," sporting ꧅director Gil de Ferran said in McLaren's race preview.

"Nevertheless, ✤this will hopefully be another positive step in his development."

Norris enters the penultimate round of the F2 season in Sochi trailing ch🐠ampionship leader George Russell by 22 points, having not recorded a victory since the opening ra🔯ce of the year in Bahrain.

Norris is one of three j🅷uniors set to appear in FP1 on Friday, with Artem Markelov (Renault) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Sauber) both slated to feature in the 90-m꧟inute practice session as well.