The six rookie drivers will be taking part in their first practice session at Bahrain Granpurin as part of a regulatory change that will increase track time for inexperienced drivers.
Over the past few years, teams have been obliged to run rookies at Friday practice on two occasions throughout the season, with each race driver having to give up one session. That number has doubled in total per vehicle this year, with the majority of teams opting to make the first such change in Bahrain.
The Bahrain International Circuit is used because of the familiarity that drivers have on the truck as a result of preseason testing, but rookies often have previous experience with the circuit through other categories. FP1 is not a particularly representative session as it takes place in the heat of the day compared to FP2, qualifying and race sunset sessions.
Ferrari is giving F2 racer Dino Sturvych the first outing in place of Charles Leclerc, but Red Bull reserve driver Ayum takes over Max Verstappen’s car for the first session.
Mercedes runs Fred Vesti for FP1 in place of George Russell, but Aston Martin replaced Fernando Alonso and gave Felipe Dragvich an outing.
At Haas, Ryo Hirakawa will be taking over two races from Oliver Bareman for the second weekend, but the other day he was running for Alpine in Suzuka. Williams is also giving track time to one of Luke Browning’s junior drivers. Luke Browning drives on the FP1 instead of the Carlos Sign.
McLaren, Alpine, Racing Bulls and Stakes are the only teams in Bahrain that do not operate replacement drivers this weekend, with Alpine already completing their allocations through Hirakawa.