Mercedes protege Fred Vesti is to make his on-track debut in the W16 in FP1 at the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix.
Vesti is one of a number of Mercedes reserve options, and is the simulator driver for the team, aiding George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in set-up work throughout race weekends.
The Dane who is competing in the IMSA sportscar championship in 2025 will drive the Mercedes for the first time in real life after racking up "the most miles of anyone in the W16, albeit all of them virtually," Mercedes team representative and director of communications Bradley Lord confirmed to media including RacingNews365.
Vesti will replace Russell for FP1 in Sakhir, with the 60-minute session being one of the most unrepresentative of the season for teams and drivers owing to the fact it takes place in day light with FP2, qualifying and the race all running after sun-set.
Under new rules for 2025, each car must be handed over twice per season to a rookie driver with fewer than two grand prix starts for a young driver FP1 session.
Mercedes has met this already with rookie Antonelli in the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix, meaning Russell will sit out one further FP1 in the season to meet his qouta.
Vesti had previously driven for Mercedes in place of Russell and Lewis Hamilton in FP1 at the 2023 Mexico City and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.
He also drove for the team in the 2023 and 2024 post-season Abu Dhabi tests.
Explore the latest F1 results and every stat you can imagine - From Max Verstappen to Michael Schumacher and from Ayrton Senna to Lewis Hamilton — explore every stat from the first Grand Prix to the latest race.
Explore the RN365 Stats HubMost read
In this article
Join the conversation!