Who is Antonio Fuoco? Lewis Hamilton's replacement at Mexican GP

This weekend's F1 Mexican Grand Prix will see seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton step out of the car for FP1, making way for seasoned Ferrari driver Antonio Fuoco.

At the age of 29, Fuoco has achieved much success in his motorsport career but never made it to F1, although he has consistently played a key role in Ferrari’s development and simulator work, providing vital technical feedback.

Instead, the former Ferrari Driver Academy member has made a name for himself in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and was a crucial part of the team that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ferrari in 2024.

Fuoco triumphed at the iconic night race driving the 499P number 50 with Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, making him the seventh Italian driver to secure an outright win with Ferrari in the storied endurance race.

Now, 10 years on from his first F1 test, which was also with the Scuderia, Fuoco will finally get the chance to test his pace in the SF-25 during Friday's first practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

As Hamilton steps aside to lend his machinery to Fuoco, the Le Mans winner will end the 16-year drought of having an Italian behind the wheel of the scarlet Ferrari in an official F1 session.

The last time the Prancing Horse fielded an Italian driver in one of their cars on an F1 weekend was way back in 2009, where countrymen Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella each replaced Felipe Massa on separate occasions after the Brazilian's accident during qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian GP.

Fisichella impressed the team enough to replace Massa whilst he recovered from his injuries, and the Italian driver was handed the seat alongside Kimi Raikkonen for the rest of the season.

Leclerc set for Mexican GP reunion with former team-mate Fuoco

Fuoco began his motorsport career, like many young racers who dream of making it big, in karting.

Born in 1996 in Calabria, a region in southern Italy, Fuoco began his karting career at just four years old, going on to win the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps title in 2013 on debut with the Prema team. In 2014, Fuoco competed in the European Formula 3 Championship where he finished fifth overall.

The following year, the Italian was recruited into the Ferrari Driver Academy and after two seasons in GP3 with Carlin and Trident, he moved up to F2, once again with Prema.

It was in F1's feeder series that the Italian raced alongside Charles Leclerc for the 2017 campaign. The Monegasque star claimed championship victory in his maiden year in F2, before being snapped up to join Sauber Ferrari in F1 the following year.

Now, in Leclerc's eighth season in the pinnacle of motorsport, he and former Prema team-mate Fuoco will reunite on track once again in FP1 at Mexico City.

However, Fuoco is not the only name you may not recognise on the timings board this weekend, with eight other teams opting to replace a full-time F1 star with a rookie for the session.

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