Ever since 2022, each team is obligated to give a rookie driver at least one session in each of their cars during a free practice session throughout the season. They can put any driver in, regardless of where they’re from. There’s only two rules that apply: the driver has to be in possession of a Free Practice License, and they can’t have completed more than two races in Formula 1. Below there is a list of all the drivers who have or will partake in a practice session in 2024.
Red Bull
Driver(s): Isack Hadjar
Race(s): Silverstone, Abu Dhabi
Red Bull has put Isack Hadjar in the car of Sergio Perez for the first free practice in Silverstone. The French F2 driver has mounted a fairly strong title challenge in 2024 and would be a logical candidate for a second outing in an FP1 session this year. Hadjar's name has come up quite a few times with all the chaos in the Red Bull family, with Daniel Ricciardo falling to the wayside, Liam Lawson being drafted in halfway through, and there still not being any certainty about who will drive for Racing Bulls next year. Hadjar's title challenge has not been the most convincing, but it still keeps him on the radar regardless. Therefore he has been given the chance to take over Max Verstappen's car in the Abu Dhabi FP1.
Ferrari
Driver(s): Oliver Bearman, Arthur Leclerc
Race(s): Mexico, Abu Dhabi
Ferrari was in a bit of an interesting situation. The surprise debut of Oliver Bearman in Saudi Arabia doesn’t actually count: the driver has to substitute in one of the Friday practice sessions, and Bearman only took part in the sessions on Saturday and Sunday. It would of course make sense to give him the two mandatory sessions as well, but given that Haas already claimed him for a whopping six sessions and his Formula 2 duties conflicted with any more sessions for Ferrari, it was tricky to actually put him in a Ferrari for 2024. The team did manage to get him in for FP1 in Mexico, but with Bearman stepping in for Kevin Magnussen a week later in Brazil, he is now out of contention for the rookie sessions.
For other options, you would usually look to the reserve driver. But Ferrari’s reserve driver is Antonio Giovinazzi and he doesn’t count because of his three seasons in F1. The other reserve driver, Robert Shwartzmann, has been claimed by Sauber this season and is parting ways with Ferrari now as well. That left Ferrari with very few other options. Ultimately, they decided on Arthur Leclerc, brother of Charles and Ferrari development driver. Arthur takes over Carlos Sainz's car in FP1 in Abu Dhabi.
Mercedes
Driver(s): Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Race(s): Monza, Mexico
Mercedes’ regular reserve driver Mick Schumacher doesn’t qualify for this rule since he already drove in F1 for two years. That didn't leave Mercedes without options though. The most obvious choice was of course the current golden child of the Mercedes Junior Team: Andrea Kimi Antonelli. His first FP1 outing at Monza wasn't off to a flying start, as he crashed the car just ten minutes in. That didn't stop Mercedes from announcing him as a full-time driver for 2025 though. In anticipation of that full-time drive, he was also drafted in for FP1 in Mexico.
Sadly, that does mean that reserve and development driver Fred Vesti is left without a shot. Vesti was last year’s runner up in Formula 2 and has made a slew of appearances for Mercedes this year, for example at Goodwood. The team has said they believe him to be ready for F1, but it doesn't look like he'll make an FP1 appearance this year.
Mercedes development driver Fred Vesti seems to be unfortunate enough to not get an FP1 outing.
McLaren
Driver(s): Pato O'Ward, Ryo Hirakawa
Race(s): Mexico, Abu Dhabi
IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward took over one of the McLaren cars in front of his home crowd in Mexico. O'Ward has had a couple of decent seasons in IndyCar for McLaren and has maintained very good ties to the F1 team, though a transfer seems to be out of the question.
For the second FP1 session, McLaren decided to go with a lesser known name from their academy. Two-time WEC champion Ryo Hirakawa is also part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme. Hirakawa doesn't seem overly concerned with a possible transfer to Formula 1, but his connections with McLaren do mean that he'll make his debut in the sport in FP1 of Abu Dhabi.
Aston Martin
Driver(s): Felipe Drugovich
Race(s): Mexico, Abu Dhabi
It was pretty much a given already that Felipe Drugovich would get the FP1 outings for Aston Martin this year, the first being in Mexico and the second in Abu Dhabi. The Brazilian has been a loyal back-up for the team for a while now. He won the Formula 2 title back in 2022 and has since then been a full-time reserve driver for Aston Martin, though he did recently take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And while it seems unlikely that Drugovich will get a permanent raceseat in Aston Martin any time soon, he’ll most likely be their go-to driver for the other FP1 sessions next year as well.
Alpine
Driver(s): Jack Doohan
Race(s): Canada, Silverstone
Alpine put their reserve driver Jack Doohan in the car of Esteban Ocon during FP1 in Canada. With Ocon leaving next year, Doohan will take over his seat full-time in 2025. It therefore didn't come as a surprise when Alpine announced that Doohan would also take over Gasly's car for the first free practice at Silverstone. With those two sessions out of the way, Alpine has fulfilled their required minimum of two sessions. However, given that they plan on putting Doohan in the car full-time next year, they can of course still opt to give him a few more FP1 sessions later in the season.
For more on Alpine's historic downfall, read our three-part series here on where it all went wrong.
Williams
Driver(s): Franco Colapinto, Luke Browning
Race(s): Silverstone, Abu Dhabi
Formula 2 driver Franco Colapinto took place in the Williams of Logan Sargeant at the British Grand Prix. The Argentine driver experienced a bit of a rocky start to his maiden F2 season, but after a sprint victory and two podiums he has managed to establish himself solidly in the top ten. You would think that, now that Colapinto is Williams's replacement for Sargeant for the rest of the season, he'd take care of the other mandatory FP1 session too, but you'd be wrong.
Here's the thing: the rules around that state that both cars have to be relinquished for an FP1 session. Since Colapinto did his first training in Sargeant's car, and is now also driving around in Sargeant's car, none of it counts for the two mandatory sessions. That means Albon has to leave his car for a rookie as well some time. That rookie was confirmed to be Luke Browning, 2024 F3 title candidate and 2025 F2 driver.
Racing Bulls
Driver(s): Ayumu Iwasa
Race(s): Japan, Abu Dhabi
Racing Bulls put Red Bull Junior Driver and hometown hero Ayumu Iwasa in the car for the first practice session in Japan. Iwasa currently drives in the Japanese Super Formula, one of the most highly rated competitions in the world.
With Liam Lawson not counting and reserve driver Isack Hadjar already claimed by Red Bull, there aren't many other contenders left. That opened the door for Iwasa to drive another session for Racing Bulls in Abu Dhabi. Racing Bulls still hasn't officially confirmed their driver line-up for 2025, and while Iwasa doesn't seem like a serious contender for that seat, the FP1 session could still be considered a job interview of sorts for him.
Getting behind the wheel for FP1 in front of his home crowd 🙌 @ayumuiwasa_cars will drive the VCARB 01 during the first practice session in Japan 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/DmCOinQVgY
— Visa Cash App RB F1 Team (@visacashapprb) March 26, 2024
Haas
Driver(s): Oliver Bearman
Race(s): Imola, Spain, Silverstone, Hungary, Baku, Brazil
Haas already got all of their mandatory sessions out of the way. Ferrari Junior Driver Oliver Bearman took over the car of Kevin Magnussen in Imola and then followed that up with Nico Hulkenberg's car in Spain. That was already enough for the mandatory two sessions this season, but Haas has chosen to go a little further than that. In total, Bearman will drive six FP1 sessions for Haas this year in anticipation of his full-time drive with the American team in 2025. It makes sense therefore that Haas will want Bearman as much in that car as possible to prepare him for that.
In addition to the scheduled free practice runs, there were also the unexpected ones. In Baku, Bearman jumped in to replace Magnussen after the Dane got a one race ban for too many penalty points. Then in Brazil it happened again, this time because Magnussen unexpectedly fell ill.
Sauber
Driver(s): Robert Shwartzman
Race(s): Zandvoort, Mexico
The most logical candidate for the Sauber FP1 session seemed to be Theo Pourchaire, reigning F2 champion and longtime member of the Sauber Academy. However, Pourchaire’s stock has gone down a bit recently after a slightly uneventful championship run in 2023 and a terrible start in Super Formula this year which saw him switching to IndyCar instead where his results have been okay at best. Sauber could have instead chosen to go with Zane Maloney, a current Formula 2 driver who managed to launch a strong title bid in the first half of the season.
It was therefore a massive surprise when they did neither of those things, and instead put Ferrari junior Robert Shwartzman in the car in Zandvoort. It might have something to do with Mattia Binotto taking over at Sauber, as Binotto was the one who brought Shwartzman on as reserve driver for Ferrari in the first place. And despite a young talent like Bortoleto being linked to the Sauber seat, Binotto still went with Shwartzman for the second FP1 outing as well at Mexico.