Aston Martin confirmed the departure of reserve driver Felipe Drugovich following the Las Vegas Grand Prix, having recently announced Jak Crawford as its new third and reserve driver.
2022 Formula 2 champion Drugovich became the first signing of Aston Martin's development programme upon its creation, which also took place the year he won the junior category.
He quickly became the Silverstone-based outfit's reserve driver and went on to make several FP1 and test appearances for Aston Martin.
Drugovich has been without a full-time race seat since winning the F2 title; however, he will compete for Andretti in Formula E in its upcoming season.
The Brazilian's move to Andretti was announced in September, with the season-opener taking place in two weeks in São Paulo. Following the move, it quickly became clear that a departure from Aston Martin could be on the cards.
Speaking to select media including RacingNews365 at the end of September about his future with Aston Martin, Drugovich said: "To be fair, I don't know. That is something that is not decided as early as any full-time seat.
"So I think that I need to wait a little bit until the end of the year; what's going to happen with other drivers as well, and then see if it's fine for me, if it makes sense for me or not, and [if it does] I'll put the trigger on doing another programme, other than Formula E.
"It's something that, to be fair, I haven't really thought about. Obviously, there are a few opportunities here and there.
"I don't know if they make sense or not, but the focus is fully in Formula E at the moment, and I want to do this well, so that's... what I mean by 'if it makes sense for me or not', it's actually: is it going to take focus away from Formula E or not? And that's what I need to weigh on the scale."
His departure was officially announced shortly after the conclusion of the Las Vegas GP, with Aston Martin having issued a short statement on social media, accompanied by a picture of Drugovich with the team.
The statement read: "A fond farewell to Felipe Drugovich, who, after three years with the team, leaves us this weekend. We wish him all the best for the future."
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