Autobayng News Team
Oscar Piastri is set to miss the opening practice session of the final round of the season – a weekend which looks increasingly likely to decide the world championship.
McLaren confirmed further details of its rookie practice driver roster today. Pato O’Ward will drive Lando Norris’s car in the opening session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this weekend.
That will complete McLaren’s requirement to use two inexperienced drivers in Norris’s car over the course of the season. However they still need to complete a second run in Piastri’s car.
Abu Dhabi is the likeliest venue for them to choose. The other race weekends are less favourable choices as they are either sprint race events which offer only a single hour of practice (Brazil and Qatar) or take place at street circuits where the possibility of car damage is especially high and track time can be limited due to crashes causing red flags (Las Vegas).
Compared to those, Piastri and McLaren are likely to prefer sacrificing the opening practice session at Yas Marina, as it takes place earlier in the day and typically sees much hotter track conditions than qualifying or the grand prix.
Even so, a championship contender being unable to participate in all sessions during a final-round title decider would be unusual by recent standards. F1 introduced the rules forcing teams to run inexperienced drivers in their cars in 2022 and none of the three championships since then were decided at the final round.
Piastri’s leading championship rivals, Norris and Max Verstappen, will complete their allocation of practice runs for other drivers in Mexico this weekend. Ayumu Iwasa drove Verstappen’s car in Bahrain and Arvid Lindblad will drive it in Mexico, while Alex Dunne took over Norris’s car at the Austrian Grand Prix. Piastri only missed first practice at Monza, where Dunne again drove.
With five rounds to go, Piastri leads Norris by 14 points and Verstappen by 40.
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F1 teams’ practice drivers confirmed so far
| Team | Car | Event | Practice driver | Event | Practice driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McLaren | 4 | Austrian Grand Prix | Alex Dunne | Mexican Grand Prix | Pato O’Ward |
| 81 | Italian Grand Prix | Alex Dunne | |||
| Ferrari | 16 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Dino Beganovic | Austrian Grand Prix | Dino Beganovic |
| 44 | |||||
| Red Bull | 1 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Ayumu Iwasa | Mexican Grand Prix | Arvid Lindblad |
| 22/30 | British Grand Prix | Arvid Lindblad | |||
| Mercedes | 12 | Australian Grand Prix | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Chinese Grand Prix | Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
| 63 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Frederik Vesti | Mexican Grand Prix | Frederik Vesti | |
| Aston Martin | 14 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Felipe Drugovich | Hungarian Grand Prix | Felipe Drugovich |
| 18 | Mexican Grand Prix | Jak Crawford | |||
| Alpine | 7*/43 | Japanese Grand Prix | Ryo Hirakawa | Italian Grand Prix | Paul Aron |
| 10 | Mexican Grand Prix | Paul Aron | |||
| Haas | 31 | Spanish Grand Prix | Ryo Hirakawa | Mexican Grand Prix | Ryo Hirakawa |
| 87 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Ryo Hirakawa | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Ryo Hirakawa | |
| Racing Bulls | 6 | Australian Grand Prix | Isack Hadjar | Chinese Grand Prix | Isack Hadjar |
| 30/22 | |||||
| Williams | 23 | Spanish Grand Prix | Victor Martins | ||
| 55 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Luke Browning | Mexican Grand Prix | Luke Browning | |
| Sauber | 5 | Australian Grand Prix | Gabriel Bortoleto | Chinese Grand Prix | Gabriel Bortoleto |
| 27 | British Grand Prix | Paul Aron | Hungarian Grand Prix | Paul Aron |
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