Many young drivers lined up for FP1 in Mexico
Felipe Drugovich at Aston Martin and Pato O'Ward at McLaren will not be the only ones to take part in Free Practice 1 of the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Ollie Bearman (Ferrari), and Robert Shwartzman (Sauber) will also be participating.
Free Practice 1 of the Mexican Grand Prix will highlight youth. Aston Martin announced that Felipe Drugovich will replace Fernando Alonso for this session, while Pato O’Ward will take the wheel at McLaren. The Mexican will thus have the opportunity to participate in “his” Grand Prix.
Ferrari followed suit by confirming Ollie Bearman’s presence for the first Friday practice session. The future Haas driver has already participated in two Grand Prix this season, one of which was with Ferrari in Jeddah, where he secured a commendable seventh place. Another Ferrari reserve driver will also be present, as Robert Shwartzman will take Guanyu Zhou’s place at Sauber, a partner of the Scuderia.
Kimi Antonelli to make people forget Monza.
In addition to Ollie Bearman, another driver from the 2025 season will have the opportunity to take to the track during these FP1 sessions: Kimi Antonelli. The Italian will replace Lewis Hamilton and will try to make up for his mishaps at Monza. The 18-year-old driver had seen his session end after only ten minutes of running, assuming responsibility for his accident.
This increased presence of young drivers is part of the desire to develop the future talents of Formula 1. The FIA regulations require each team to entrust the first free practice sessions on Fridays to rookies at least once per season for each car. The organization has also recently announced, as part of a meeting discussing the regulatory changes for 2025, that this quota would be doubled for the 2025 season.
Find here: <a href="/f1/actualite/35031-le-programme-tv-horaires-grand-prix-mexique-2024.html" title="The TV schedule and times of the Mexican Grand Prix 2024.
"The TV program and schedule of the Mexican Grand Prix 2024
