A brief break for Colapinto in Mexico! Russell and Stroll are also sitting out FP1

As is the case every year in Formula 1, Friday in Mexico means it’s rookie time! The Circuito Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City is one of the regular venues where Formula 1 teams give their young drivers a chance to race. This year, too, many young drivers will be taking part in the first practice session ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix – including at least one Formula 1 debutant.

Mini F1 debut in Mexico

Alpine has announced that Gabriele Mini will take the wheel of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine car for the 60-minute practice session on Friday. Mini is a young driver from the Alpine Academy and a full-time Formula 2 driver. For him, this will be his very first appearance in Formula 1 as part of an official race weekend. He has, however, sat in an F1 car before, namely during the so-called TPC – testing with older cars. So it’s a mini-break for Colapinto!

Mandatory rookie practice sessions in Formula 1

As a reminder: every team must field rookie drivers in at least four free practice sessions per season. It is not age that counts here, but Formula 1 experience. A driver with fewer than two Grand Prix starts counts as a rookie (including a rookie regular driver such as Arvid Lindblad). This means that every regular driver must hand over their cockpit twice a season on Fridays. This usually takes place at circuits the regular drivers already know well – and, of course, only at conventional race weekends, i.e. without sprints. After all, there’s only a single practice session on those occasions.

George Russell takes a break at Mercedes

Accordingly, other teams have already announced young driver line-ups for Mexico: at Mercedes, Fred Vesti is replacing George Russell. Luke Browning is standing in for Alex Albon at Williams. Jak Crawford is driving for Lance Stroll at Aston Martin. Freddie Slater is replacing Gabriel Bortoleto at Audi. Ryo Hirakawa is driving for Esteban Ocon at Haas – and Leonardo Fornaroli for Lando Norris at McLaren.

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