F1MATHS: How many mandatory rookie sessions have teams fulfilled so far?
On four occasions throughout the season, twice for each of its cars, each team has to field a driver in one of the first two free practice sessions who has not competed in more than two races. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo analyses how many mandatory rookie sessions teams still need to complete
Since 2022, regulations have required each team to field a rookie driver in at least one Free Practice 1 session per car during the season, meaning two sessions in total.
These rookies must have started no more than two F1 races in their career. The idea has always been to give young drivers valuable mileage in a live Grand Prix weekend environment, allowing them to learn the machinery, integrate with the team, and offer track time in an era of limited testing.
The mandatory FP1 running for rookie drivers has been expanded for 2025, ensuring double the amount of track time during a race weekend for those who have participated in no more than two F1 races in their career.
While teams are free to choose any race weekend for their rookie FP1 sessions, they’ll tend to avoid doing them at demanding circuits that require a gradual confidence build-up, as well as on Sprint weekends, which only feature a single practice session.
Alpine gave Ryo Hirakawa the opportunity to drive the A525 at the Japanese Grand Prix in front of his home crowd. The Japanese driver took over Jack Doohan’s car, who was himself a rookie, having only completed a single race before the start of the 2025 season – the season closing 2024 F1 round at Abu Dhabi.
It means that Doohan himself fulfilled the criteria at the opening two rounds. This leaves Pierre Gasly with two sessions when he will need to hand over his A525 to a rookie driver.
Aston Martin’s reserve driver Felipe Drugovich piloted Fernando Alonso’s car in Bahrain, and with the Spaniard having suffered from health issues at the Hungaroring, the Brazilian driver took behind the wheel of the green car again in FP1.
It means that Alonso has already handed over his car twice, but his team-mate Lance Stroll will still need to sit out two sessions in the remainder of the season.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc handed over his SF-25 to F2 driver Dino Beganovich at Manama and Spa, but his seven-time world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton will need to sit out two FP1 sessions in the final leg of the season.
McLaren had waited relatively long for its first rookie session, with Alexander Dunne having taken over Norris’ car at the Hungarorng. The British driver will hand over his MCL39 in another session while his championship-leading team-mate Oscar Piastri will still sit out two opening sessions.
Mercedes found themselves in an interesting position. George Russell sat out FP1 in Bahrain when Frederik Vesti took over his W16 which leaves him to miss a further opening practice.
However, his rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli has technically already fulfilled this requirement for the season having completed his two sessions for 2025 in Australia and China.
Haas driver Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon have already sat out an FP1 session at Bahrain and Barcelona, respectively, leaving them with one more session to miss in the remainder of the season. The British driver has already completed three races – one with Ferrari and two with Haas – in 2025 which means that he is not classified as rookie driver.
Kick Sauber only needed to give up two FP1 sessions this season, as they are running a designated rookie in their other car in Gabriel Bortoleto. As such, only Nico Hulkenberg had been forced to miss two FP1 sessions which he did at Silverstone and in Budapest when he handed over his car to Paul Aron.
Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon have already handed over their once. The Spaniard missed the opening session at the Bahrain International Circuit when Luke Browning got behind the wheel of his FW47.
His team-mate Alex Albon missed the first practice at the Spanish Grand Prix when he handed over his car to Victor Martins.
At Red Bull, both Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda will need to sit out one more FP1 session. Ayumu Iwasa got behind the wheel of Verstappen’s RB21 during Free Practice 1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix while F2 driver Arvid Lindblad made his Free Practice 1 debut for Red Bull in front of his home fans at the British Grand Prix when Yuki Tsunoda handed over his car.
Racing Bulls have already fulfilled the requirement with Isack Hadjar, who had not completed any races before the start of the season. However, Liam Lawson, who started the season at Red Bull before returning to Racing Bulls, will need to sit out two sessions in the remaining ten races.
