A total of nine rookie drivers from eight different teams are set to take part in Free Practice 1 at the 2025 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Each regular race driver is required by the F1 rules to formally hand over their car for two FP1 sessions throughout the year, with eight drivers still required to do one session, including title protagonist Oscar Piastri and Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton.
Of the nine drivers taking part, eight of them have previous FP1 experience, including 2026 Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad, who is set to deputise for Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull.
The one exception is perhaps the most interesting driver among the field, FIA F2 driver Cian Shields.
He is taking over Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin, despite Alonso not being required to hand his car over. He has already done so twice with Felipe Drugovich taking over in Bahrain and Hungary.
In the sister car, new reserve driver Jak Crawford is taking over for the second of Lance Stroll's two sessions, but Shields, who has not scored a point in two seasons in F2, will make his F1 grand prix weekend debut.
In the table below, check out the full list of drivers in FP1 at the 2025 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The full list of EVERY 2025 FP1 driver is available to view here.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP1 drivers
| Team | Driver In | Driver Out |
|---|---|---|
| McLaren | Pato O'Ward | Oscar Piastri |
| Ferrari | Arthur Leclerc | Lewis Hamilton |
| Red Bull | Arvid Lindblad | Yuki Tsunoda |
| Aston Martin | Cian Shields | Fernando Alonso |
| Aston Martin | Jak Crawford | Lance Stroll |
| Alpine | Paul Aron | Pierre Gasly |
| Haas | Ryo Hirakawa | Esteban Ocon |
| Racing Bulls | Ayumu Iwasa | Liam Lawson |
| Williams | Luke Browning | Alex Albon |
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