McLaren F1 hopeful set to replace Oscar Piastri for FP1 at Monza

McLaren Formula 1 star Oscar Piastri will not take part in first practice at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, the team have confirmed.

Piastri took a commanding lead in the drivers' championship thanks to his win and Lando Norris' engine failure at the Dutch Grand Prix last time out, now holding a 34-point advantage over his teammate as the sport heads to Italy.

Earlier in the week, it was announced that McLaren development driver Alex Dunne will compete in FP1 after making his F1 debut at the Austrian GP. On that occasion, the Irish F2 star replaced Lando Norris and impressed, finishing fourth in FP1.

Now, GPFans has learnt that Dunne will replace Piastri in the McLaren this time around, and not Norris, as he aims to impress again.

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Dunne to take part in FP1 at Italian Grand Prix

Dunne takes part in FP1 as part of F1’s rookie rule, which means each team must field a rookie driver at least twice in each car for a practice session in 2025.

Alongside Dunne, Paul Aron will make his debut with Alpine in FP1 at Monza, after originally driving on loan at Sauber for two sessions at Silverstone and in Hungary.

In between F1 sessions, Dunne has been competing in the F2 championship, and will continue to race in the series alongside his FP1 appearance this weekend at Monza.

Dunne is currently fifth in the F2 championship, and 30 points behind standings leader Leonardo Fornaroli, with the youngster subjected to some bad luck in 2025.

The 19-year-old lost his feature race win at Spa, after he was handed a 10-place grid penalty for failing to 'engage the start set-up procedure at the start of the formation lap'.

Dunne was also disqualified from his second-place finish at the Red Bull Ring due to excessive wear on the plank underneath his car.

If not for these tiny errors with major repercussions, Dunne could be leading the F2 championship. However, the Irish driver still has four race weekends at Monza, Baku, Lusail and Yas Island to claw back ground in the title.

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