Welcome at RacingNews365

Become part of the largest racing community in the United Kingdom. Create your free account now!

  • Share your thoughts and opinions about F1
  • Win fantastic prizes
  • Get access to our premium content
  • Take advantage of more exclusive benefits
Sign in
Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix 2024

Which F1 rookies are driving FP1 at the Mexican GP?

Half of the current F1 teams will field rookie drivers during FP1 at the Mexican Grand Prix - but who are the drivers getting the chance, and who is stepping aside?

Antonelli
Article
To news overview © XPBimages

Round 20 of the current F1 season sees the sport head to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez, which hosts the Mexico City Grand Prix.

With it being just one of the three remaining rounds left that does not run under the sprint format, teams are using the opportunity to field rookie drivers.

Every team must nominate two FP1 sessions during the year when they hand the car to a rookie to gain F1 experience. This rule will be doubled to four outings in 2025.

Half of the grid will have rookie drivers taking part in the opening practice segment.

IndyCar star Pato O'Ward will get behind the wheel of the championship-leading MCL38 McLaren in front of a home crowd.

Oliver Bearman and Kimi Antonelli, who have been confirmed as 2025 F1 drivers, will take part in FP1 with Ferrari and Mercedes respectively.

Felipe Drugovich, F2 champion in 2022, will drive the Aston Martin in place of Fernando Alonso, while Robert Shwartzman will take over duties from Zhou Guanyu at Stake.

The rookies will have 60 minutes to gain further experience with F1 machinery.

FP1 will get underway at 12:30 PM local time, 19:30 BST, on Friday, October 25.

Which F1 rookies are driving FP1 at the Mexican GP?
FP1 Driver Team Driver Replaced
Pato O'Ward McLaren TBC
Oliver Bearman Ferrari Charles Leclerc
Kimi Antonelli Mercedes Lewis Hamilton
Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin Fernando Alonso
Robert Shwartzman Stake Zhou Guanyu

Also interesting:

Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look back on the US GP and look ahead to this weekend's race in Mexico City. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris' Turn 12 incident is a key talking point, as is the narrative change in both F1 championships.

Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!

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 Hub

Join the conversation!

Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.

Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar

A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..

F1 calendar 2026
Race Date
chn Chinese GP 15 Mar 2026
jpn Japanese GP 29 Mar 2026
bhr Bahrain GP 12 Apr 2026
sau Saudi Arabian GP 19 Apr 2026
usa Miami GP 03 May 2026
can Canadian GP 24 May 2026
Full calendar
x
RESULTS 2026 F1 Chinese Grand Prix