Six junior drivers including three newcomers get Yas Marina F1 practice runs

Six junior drivers, including three who have never previously participated in an official Formula 1 session, will take part in practice tomorrow for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The majority of F1 teams have left it until the final round to fulfil their requirement to running inexperienced drivers in each of their cars over the course of the season.

Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jnr and Oscar Piastri are among those who will sit out the first hour of practice at Yas Marina while their teams hand their cars to drivers who have participated in no more than a maximum of two grands prix, as required by the rules.

Luke Browning, Ryu Hirakawa and Arthur Leclerc will all make their first appearances in official F1 sessions. Leclerc will drive alongside his elder brother Charles at Ferrari, marking the first time a pair of siblings have driven together for the same team in F1. Hirakawa, a 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours winner and two-times World Endurance Champion with Toyota, will drive for McLaren, while last year’s Macau Grand Prix winner Browning appears for Williams.

The three other drivers participating in tomorrow’s session have appeared in F1 cars before. Isack Hadjar, who can win the Formula 2 title this weekend, has made three appearances for Red Bull and RB. His fellow Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa first drove in an F1 session at home in Suzuka earlier this year. Felipe Drugovich, the 2022 F2 champion, has appeared four times for Aston Martin.

Teams have spread their practice driver appearances more evenly across the championship this year. Nine drivers took part in first practice for the final race in 2023. Following a change in the rules, teams will have to find time for twice as many practice driver appearances next year.

F1 teams’ practice driver appearances in 2024

Team	Round	Race driver	Practice driver	Round	Race driver	Practice driver
Red Bull	Abu Dhabi	Max Verstappen	Isack Hadjar	Britain	Sergio Perez	Isack Hadjar
Mercedes	Mexico	Lewis Hamilton	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Italy	George Russell	Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Ferrari	Mexico	Charles Leclerc	Oliver Bearman	Abu Dhabi	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Arthur Leclerc
McLaren	Mexico	Lando Norris	Pato O’Ward	Abu Dhabi	Oscar Piastri	Ryo Hirakawa
Aston Martin	Mexico	Fernando Alonso	Felipe Drugovich	Abu Dhabi	Lance Stroll	Felipe Drugovich
Alpine	Canada	Esteban Ocon*	Jack Doohan	Britain	Pierre Gasly	Jack Doohan
Williams	Abu Dhabi	Alexander Albon	Luke Browning	Britain	Logan Sargeant**	Franco Colapinto
RB	Japan	Daniel Ricciardo***	Ayumu Iwasa	Abu Dhabi	Yuki Tsunoda	Ayumu Iwasa
Sauber	Netherlands	Valtteri Bottas	Robert Shwartzman	Mexico	Zhou Guanyu	Robert Shwartzman
Haas	Spain	Nico Hulkenberg	Oliver Bearman	Britain	Kevin Magnussen	Oliver Bearman

*Replaced as race driver by Doohan from Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
**Replaced as race driver by Colapinto from Italian Grand Prix
***Replaced as race driver by Liam Lawson from United States Grand Prix

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