It’s that time of year where the Formula One season starts coming to an end, however we still have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming races. In Formula One, teams are obligated to run a rookie driver or drivers in two FP1 sessions across the season. This allows drivers to have a shot in a Formula One car and show their talent for a possible seat in the future.
We have already seen some amazing Free Practice sessions with a few rookie drivers driving for different teams. This includes the likes of Nyck De Vries, who has driven in an astonishing three FP1 sessions with three different teams. We have also seen the likes of Juri Vips and Liam Lawson as well this season.
Keeping track of all these practice sessions and which teams are still left to run a few rookies is hard work keeping the fast-going world of Formula One. So, lets break it down:
Red Bull has used one of the sessions at the Spanish Grand Prix where Juri Vips replaced Sergio Perez. This means Red Bull still has one session in need of filling before the season is over, we wonder who could be in the running for this opportunity?
Aston Martin have also used one of their sessions on the rising star Nyck De Vries who replaced Sebastian Vettel at the Italian Grand Prix. It has also been announced that the F2 Champion and part of the new young driver’s programme at Aston Martin, Felipe Drugovich will be replacing Lance Stroll at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This means that Aston Martin will have filled the seats needed this season for the FP1 sessions.
With Nyck De Vries being a popular guy in the F1 paddock this year, there is no surprise that he replaced Lewis Hamilton at the French Grand Prix for the Mercedes Team. This leaves another FP1 open for Mercedes as well.
Ferrari have also recently made the announcement that Ferrari Academy Driver Robert Schwartzman will be completing the two sessions for the Ferrari team. He will definitely be in FP1 at the upcoming United States Grand Prix, but his other session is still yet to be confirmed where this will be.
Alpha Tauri had Liam Lawson replace Pierre Gasly in the Belgian Grand Prix. Leaving them with yet another FP1 session to be used before the end of the season.
The Haas team recently announced that Pietro Fittipaldi will make their two FP1 appearances in Mexico and at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Haas made us wait a long time for this announcement while Giovinazzi was having a spin behind the wheel in an FP1 session in Monza and he will also be in the FP1 session in the United States Grand Prix. However, Giovinazzi does not count as a Rookie Driver.
William have filled their two FP1 sessions this season with Nyck De Vries replaced Alex Albon at the Spanish Grand Prix, where in fact he ended up replacing Albon for the race weekend and scored points for Williams, due to Albons sad news of needing surgery that weekend. They will also be replacing Nicholas Latifi with Logan Sargent at the upcoming United States Grand Prix.
Alpha Romeo was in a similar predicament to the Haas team where Robert Kubica had driven in an FP1 session, in fact he drove in three! But yet again he is not a Rookie Driver. However today the team announced that the Rookie Driver Theo Pourchaire will be taking part in the FP1 session in the United States Grand Prix, leaving only one more session needing to be filled.
McLaren are still yet to run a rookie in FP1 meaning at least 2 sessions have to be filled before the end of the season. There are a few names being thrown around the media such as Pato O’Ward and wouldn’t McLaren love to see their new signing Oscar Piastri in one of those sessions? With only four races to go McLaren will have to announce something soon.
Earlier this year Alpine did say that Oscar Piastri was going to have a FP1 session with the team, however with Piastri’s recent move to the McLaren team this is all still up in the air. Alpine will still need two rookies to take part in an FP1 session this season, so we can wait on them all important announcements.
There are definitely loads to look forward to in the coming weeks and a chance for us to see the talent of these Rookie Drivers in F1. Hopefully more announcements will be made soon as some teams seem to be cutting it close to the end of the season.