Four F1 stars to skip FP1 at Hungarian Grand Prix

Four driver names on the F1 timing charts of this weekend's FP1 session at the Hungarian Grand Prix may not look as familiar as they usually do to those tuning in.

This is because there are four full-time drivers who will be giving up their seat for the first hour of practice at the Hungaroring to hand their machinery over to a 'rookie' driver to test out instead.

Let's take a look at the full list of drivers (at the time of writing) who will be stepping aside for FP1 in Hungary.

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McLaren F1 star Oscar Piastri will be spending Friday afternoon in Mogyorod in the garage or potentially even sat at the pitwall, enjoying a different perspective on the session in order to make way for back-to-back F3 and F2 champion, Leonardo Fornaroli.

Fornaroli will join Lando Norris in the other MCL40 in his second rookie session of the season, having tried out the reigning champion's machinery in Barcelona last month.

Alpine's Franco Colapinto will also be absent from FP1 as Paul Aron returns to the track in his role as F1 reserve driver with the Enstone-based outfit, having also deputised for both Audi F1 drivers in the past after Alpine loaned him out to the squad formerly known as Sauber.

Ryo Hirakawa, who recently swapped out for Esteban Ocon at the Red Bull Ring will now do the same by driving Ollie Bearman's car for FP1 in Hungary.

And the fourth and final driver swap which will take place on Friday, July 24, concerns Cadillac and F2 driver Colton Herta.

The test driver for the brand new squad will be replacing Valtteri Bottas this weekend for FP1, with the American driver saying ahead of his outing: "It’s very exciting to get another chance in FP1. It’s a good opportunity for my personal experience, but the ultimate goal is, of course, to help the team with its development.

"It’s been six weeks since I was last in the car, and there’s been a lot of evolution in that time. My job is to help the race drivers have the best possible Hungarian Grand Prix – but also provide the feedback that will aid the team in its long-term development aims and give me a better baseline in future sessions."

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Why do F1 drivers sit out of FP1?

In case you're new to F1 or you've never found yourself wondering who the drivers are that occasionally pop up on the timings charts, here's how it works.

Each constructor must have both of their full-time drivers vacate their seat for two FP1 sessions across every campaign, meaning all 11 F1 teams should field a rookie driver on four separate occasions across their two cars.

The rules require each team to give an equal amount of opportunities to young drivers or racers with less experience in F1, with the term 'rookie' being defined as an individual who is yet to complete more than two F1 grands prix.

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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