All nine rookies taking part in Mexican Grand Prix FP1 as Max Verstappen’s Red Bull absence explained

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Nine rookies will take part in FP1 at the Mexican Grand Prix as every team, except for Sauber, announces their driver line-ups for the session.

As part of the F1 regulations, each team is mandated to run two rookie sessions in each car, an increase from just one per vehicle last season.

With the ruling, every driver is expected to give up their seat for two FP1 sessions this season, with most teams opting to wait until later in the year to field a rookie.

To be considered a rookie, a driver cannot have started in more than two grands prix, meaning that three teams have already completed half their obligation when they signed new drivers for 2025.

Kimi Antonelli, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar have already completed their mandatory rookie sessions when they participated in the practice sessions for Australia and China.

Jack Doohan’s practice runs at the start of the year would have technically counted for Alpine, however, the team had planned to use other rookies for this session. Paul Aron will participate in three FP1 sessions for the team in 2025, as Alpine evaluate the Estonian for a possible seat next year.

Sauber is the only team to have completed all four of their rookie runs in 2025, including Aron being loaned to the team from Alpine for FP1 starts at Silverstone and the Hungaroring earlier in the season.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is regularly used to run the FP1 rookie sessions, as most teams have completed that season’s upgrades, and so data is not as important as it was previously.

Read more: 2025 F1 Mexican Grand Prix: qualifying and race times, how to watch and weather forecast

Who are the rookies taking part in the Mexican Grand Prix FP1 session?

Nine rookies are participating in FP1 at the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix, with only Sauber not running a different driver during the session.

Arvid Lindblad – Red Bull

Red Bull junior, Arvid Lindblad, will replace Max Verstappen for the opening session of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend.

It will be the 18-year-old’s second run with the team after making his debut at his home race in Silverstone back in July.

Lindblad is in his rookie F2 season with Campos Racing, where he sits seventh in the championship. The British driver has impressed Red Bull bosses after two victories this season, with the teenager now tipped for a move to Formula 1 next year.

This will be the third rookie run for Red Bull in 2025, with it likely that Lindblad will make a final appearance with the squad later in the year.

Pato O’Ward – McLaren

Pato O’Ward, McLaren’s reserve driver, will climb into Lando Norris‘ car this weekend for his second year in front of his home crowd.

The 26-year-old finished runner-up in this year’s IndyCar championship with Arrow McLaren and has made a number of appearances with the F1 team since his first test drive in 2021.

O’Ward made his Mexican Grand Prix debut last year with the team, after McLaren CEO Zak Brown wanted to make a point to IndyCar organisers, who had been critical about a race in Mexico. Bosses had previously claimed that there was not enough support for O’Ward and a large enough IndyCar fanbase to bring the race to the country.

Former McLaren junior Alex Dunne has already made two appearances for McLaren in Austria and Italy earlier in the year, before cutting ties with the team in October. Oscar Piastri is still required to sit out of one more session, so it is expected that O’Ward will be seen again on track towards the end of the year.

Antonio Fuoco – Ferrari

Antonio Fuoco will replace Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari for the FP1 Mexican Grand Prix session. The 29-year-old won the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours with Ferrari and will make his free practice debut this weekend in Mexico.

Fuoco was promoted from the Ferrari Driver Academy into their simulation team in 2019, and has participated in several young driver tests for the Scuderia in the last six years. The Italian last participated in the post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit at the end of 2024, with Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic covering the last two rookie sessions this year.

Frederik Vesti – Mercedes

Frederik Vesti will make his fourth appearance with Mercedes with an outing at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old was signed as a Mercedes Junior driver in 2021, and after failing to move into Formula 1 at the end of 2023, was promoted into a reserve role with the team, alongside Mick Schumacher.

Vesti now partners with Valtteri Bottas as the team’s reserve drivers, and will participate in his second FP1 session this year, after taking to the track in Bahrain.

With Kimi Antonelli making his debut at the start of the year, this is the final FP1 session that Mercedes are mandated to use a rookie.

Jak Crawford – Aston Martin

Aston Martin development driver, Jak Crawford, will make his rookie session debut after signing with the team in 2024.

The 20-year-old currently drives for DAMS Lucas Oil in Formula 2 where he sits fifth in the drivers’ championship standings.

Crawford has previously participated in several test drives, including completing the Young Drivers Test in the AMR24 after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year.

Aston Martin’s reserve driver Felipe Drugovich has already replaced Fernando Alonso twice this season in Bahrain and Hungary, with Lance Stroll yet to sit out of his two mandatory sessions.

Paul Aron – Alpine

Paul Aron is gaining valuable experience in 2025, having already completed two rookie runnings with Sauber at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.

Alpine loaned the 21-year-old to Sauber, so that he could get some extra experience, with the Estonian heavily rumoured to be stepping into the Alpine seat in 2026.

This will be Aron’s first rookie session appearance with Alpine after leaving the Mercedes junior team in 2023.

The team had previously announced that Jack Doohan’s maiden appearances in Australia and China would not be counted in their rookie quota, as they wanted to keep it fair between their two drivers.

This will be Pierre Gasly’s first time missing a session this year, and he will have to give up his seat once more before the end of the 2025 season.

Ryo Hirakawa – Haas

Ryo Hirakawa has already taken part in an FP1 session at his home grand prix in Japan, although he was racing with Alpine. The 31-year-old swapped to Haas straight after the Japanese Grand Prix and has competed in two rookie sessions with the American team.

Hirakawa will replace Oliver Bearman for a second time, after the young Brit lost his rookie status when he made his third start in 2024, replacing an unwell Kevin Magnussen at the Singapore Grand Prix.

This will be Haas’ third rookie run of the year, meaning that Esteban Ocon will still be required to sit out of a final practice at the final four races.

Ayumu Iwasa – Racing Bulls

Ayumu Iwasa will replace Liam Lawson for the first practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix. The 24-year-old has already made an appearance for Racing Bulls sister team, Red Bull, in Bahrain but will move back to complete one of the two mandated rookie runs for the Faenza-based team.

With Isack Hadjar’s maiden starts counting towards the team’s rookie quota, only Liam Lawson is required to give up his seat twice this year.

Luke Browning – Williams

Williams junior driver Luke Browning will replace Carlos Sainz in Mexico, with the team opting to give the rookie session opportunities to its junior drivers, Browning and Victor Martins.

The 22-year-old, who is currently second in the F2 drivers’ standings, will make his second outing with the team in 2025 after a previous appearance in Bahrain.

Williams has one further rookie session to fill in 2025, with Alex Albon needing to sit out of a practice session before the end of the year.