Red Bull make driver change for Barcelona FP1

Red Bull has announced that Ayumu Iwasa will deputise for Isack Hadjar for FP1 at this weekend's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The Japanese driver will get his first outing in the RB22 alongside Max Verstappen, satisfying one of the Milton Keynes-based team's four required rookie first free practice sessions of the F1 season.

Isawa will be joined on track in Spain by a host of other rookie drivers. The F1 teams' familiarity with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya makes it an ideal place to swap out one of its usual drivers for FP1.

This is even more so the case with the Bahrain Grand Prix not going ahead in April, which stripped the teams of a near-certain opportunity to partially fulfil the rule mandated by the FIA.

Also confirmed to be driving in FP1 are: Colton Herta for Cadillac, Leonardo Fornaroli for McLaren, Fred Vesti for Mercedes, Luke Browning for Williams and Paul Aron for Audi.

Iwasa's inclusion means at least six of the 11 teams will have an alternate in one of its cars for the opening hour of running this weekend.

The 24-year-old finished fourth in the F2 standings in 2023, before returning to Japan to compete in Super Formula, where he won the drivers' championship in 2025.

He is also the test and reserve driver for Racing Bulls and has taken part in numerous FP1s in the past, as well as the end-of-season rookie test.