Eight teams will give practice outings to inexperienced drivers at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Three of them – Red Bull junior driver Nikola Tsolov, Alpine’s Gabriele Mini and Audi’s Freddie Slater – will make their debuts in an official F1 test session. Tsolov will drive for Red Bull’s second F1 team, Racing Bulls.Teams must give four opportunities to inexperienced drivers – two in each of their cars – in first practice sessions over the course of the year.
Among the others driving this weekend is Luke Browning. Williams has entered him for a fifth session this year after he completed no laps when he appeared for them at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Also in action this weekend are Leonardo Fornaroli and Jak Crawford, making their fourth appearances for McLaren and Aston Martin respectively. McLaren recently confirmed Fornaroli, the 2025 Formula 2 champion, will drive for its new WEC Hypercar team.
Ayumu Iwasa will also make his fourth appearance this year, and third for Red Bull. He has also previously driven for Racing Bulls. Ryo Hirakawa will appear for the third time in a Haas this season.
More than half the teams will have completed their obligation to run drivers on four occasions after next week’s Brazilian Grand Prix. Unlike in previous years, none of the remaining rounds are sprint events, meaning they theoretically have more opportunities to run their junior drivers. But with doubt continuing to hang over whether the final races in the Middle East will go ahead, teams appear to be ensuring they do not fail to fulfil their practice quotas should they be cancelled.
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| Team | Car | Event | Practice driver | Event | Practice driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McLaren | 1 | Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix | Leonardo Fornaroli | Mexican Grand Prix | Leonardo Fornaroli |
| 81 | Hungarian Grand Prix | Leonardo Fornaroli | Belgian Grand Prix | Leonardo Fornaroli | |
| Mercedes | 63 | Mexican Grand Prix | Frederik Vesti | ||
| 12 | Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix | Frederik Vesti | Hungarian Grand Prix | Frederik Vesti | |
| Red Bull | 3 | Italian Grand Prix | Ayumu Iwasa | Mexican Grand Prix | Ayumu Iwasa |
| 6 | Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix | Ayumu Iwasa | |||
| Ferrari | 16 | ||||
| 44 | Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix | Dino Beganovic | Austrian Grand Prix | Dino Beganovic | |
| Williams | 23 | Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix | Luke Browning | Italian Grand Prix | Luke Browning |
| 55 | Austrian Grand Prix | Luke Browning | Brazilian Grand Prix | Luke Browning | |
| Racing Bulls | 41 | Australian Grand Prix | Arvid Lindblad | Chinese Grand Prix | Arvid Lindblad |
| 30 | Austrian Grand Prix | Ayumu Iwasa | Mexican Grand Prix | Nikola Tsolov | |
| Aston Martin | 18 | Austrian Grand Prix | Jak Crawford | Mexican Grand Prix | Jak Crawford |
| 14 | Japanese Grand Prix | Jak Crawford | Belgian Grand Prix | Jak Crawford | |
| Haas | 31 | Austrian Grand Prix | Ryo Hirakawa | Mexican Grand Prix | Ryo Hirakawa |
| 87 | Hungarian Grand Prix | Ryo Hirakawa | |||
| Audi | 27 | Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix | Paul Aron | Brazilian Grand Prix | Freddie Slater |
| 5 | Austrian Grand Prix | Paul Aron | Mexican Grand Prix | Freddie Slater | |
| Alpine | 10 | Italian Grand Prix | Paul Aron | ||
| 43 | Hungarian Grand Prix | Paul Aron | Mexican Grand Prix | Gabriele Mini | |
| Cadillac | 11 | Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix | Colton Herta | United States Grand Prix | Colton Herta |
| 77 | Hungarian Grand Prix | Colton Herta | Italian Grand Prix | Colton Herta |
NB. Browning did no laps when he appeared at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. He will also drive Albon’s car at the Mexican Grand Prix
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