The ten young drivers making F1 rookie test appearances in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi GP

Ten rookie drivers will get the opportunity to test an F1 car this Friday afternoon, as the next generation has a chance to shine ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Every team must set aside two practice sessions for rookies each season, and it’s no surprise that half of them are doing so now. After a sprint race weekend in Brazil, which offered just a single practice session, as well as a brand new circuit to tackle in Las Vegas, Mexico City and Abu Dhabi were arguably the most sensible of the last four rounds in which to fulfil the requirement.

Haas, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and Williams will all field new faces during the first practice session of the weekend which, with heavily restricted testing outside of grand prix weekends, is the only real opportunity that young drivers have to drive a current F1 car.

For a young driver to qualify, they need to have started no more than two grands prix; meaning drivers such as Pietro Fittipaldi — who took part in the final two races of the 2020 F1 season — cannot compete. AlphaTauri is the only constructor to have completed its full rookie quota this season.

Who will be the next to join the grid? Here are the hopefuls who will be heading out on track in Abu Dhabi:

 

Ollie Bearman

Haas

Aged 18, Ollie Bearman is one of the brightest stars of this year’s current crop of F2 drivers, having scored four victories across the season so far. The results only see him sixth in the current standings ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, but with a secured seat with top team Prema in 2024, plus Ferrari backing, Bearman’s immediate motor sport future is secure.

Stepping in for Kevin Magnussen in Mexico, the young Briton impressed vastly: finishing with the fastest time of all the rookie runners. A second outing in Abu Dhabi will be another chance for Bearman to seal his future-star reputation and Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has already spoken of giving him more opportunities next year to “prepare him for the future”.

 

Jack Doohan

Alpine

The name may well be familiar, not just because Jack Doohan is son of the MotoGP legend Mick, but because he is already an established member of the F1 paddock — especially when compared to the rest of the drivers on this list. Not only has the Aussie already completed numerous testing miles with Alpine on filming days, but he has also previously competed in two FP1 sessions in 2022, as well as the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi. Last year, he was in the frame for the Alpine F1 seat that eventually went to Pierre Gasly.

His most recent trip to Mexico City was underwhelming, as the Aussie encountered numerous issues with his A523 and spent most of his rare testing time on the pit wall. But when he finally did get out on track, he was almost a second quicker than Frederik Vesti’s Mercedes.

In the midst of his second season in F2, he has shown signs of F1 potential — winning in Hungary and Belgium — but with two elite talents now under contract for the foreseeable future at Enstone, Doohan may have a longer wait than most for an F1 seat.

 

Theo Pourchaire

Alfa Romeo

Current F2 title leader Theo Pourchaire will aim to carry over his form to his third F1 appearance for Alfa Romeo, as he replaces Zhou Guanyu in Abu Dhabi for FP1.

The Frenchman previously made his F1 practice debut at the 2022 United States Grand Prix, where he was 18th fastest and described the experience as “the best hour of my life”. With a new confidence and a 25 point lead in the F2 drivers’ standings, we could see an even more polished Pourchaire this time around — even after technical issues kept him from completing a single timed lap in Mexico City.

Having re-signed both its drivers for the 2024 season, Alfa Romeo is set to retain the 20-year-old as its reserve driver for next season, but he’ll be keen to step off the sidelines as soon as possible, especially if he wins the F2 title in Abu Dhabi.

 

Frederik Vesti 

Mercedes

A steady stream of eye-catching performances in 2023 have surely put Frederik Vesti in the forefront of Toto Wolff’s plans, as he comes to the end of his third year as a Mercedes junior. The young Dane has been given the nod to take Lewis Hamilton’s seat for FP1 this weekend.

Five race victories and seven podium finishes so far this season have made Vesti a consistent threat to Pourchaire’s F2 title chances and he remains the only driver left in realistic range of stealing the title from the front-running Frenchman, who he trails by 25 points.

Vesti, 21, took part in the Abu Dhabi Young Drivers Test in 2022, where he made his F1 debut for Mercedes, and now has the chance to drive its more competitive offering in the form of the W14. As with many of his fellow rookies, he faces an uncertain route into grand prix racing, with both seats at the team taken up until 2026.

Isack Hadjar

Red Bull

After a less-than-productive FP1 debut in Mexico City for AlphaTauri, Isack Hadjar will return to a Red Bull seat in Abu Dhabi.

At 19, Hadjar is among the youngest up-and-comers on the current F2 grid but has been impressive with numerous point finishes and a debut visit to the podium in Budapest.

Of course, he’ll have to join the queue for a Red Bull seat, with Liam Lawson currently at the top of the list should Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo be deemed surplus to requirements. But an impressive showing in Abu Dhabi could make the highly-rated young Frenchman an option in the years to come.

 

Robert Shwartzman

Ferrari

After leaving the F2 paddock in 2021, Robert Shwartzman is a name that has arguably been lost among others. Two sprint wins coupled with other impressive performances during his final junior campaign saw the Russian-Israeli driver challenge Oscar Piastri for the drivers’ crown, before then taking on a test driver role for Ferrari in 2022.

Despite earning a reputation as the “most lethal overtaker on the road to F1 across the past two years”, the buzz around Shwartzman has since faded but an eye-catching performance in Abu Dhabi could put his F1 future back on track.

Taking over Charles Leclerc’s SF-23, Shwartzman will be keen to best the outcome of his last FP1 outing, which saw him finish almost 3 seconds off the pace at Zandvoort.

 

Pato O’Ward

McLaren

Another impressive IndyCar campaign in 2023 has kept Pato O’Ward in the hunt for an F1 seat in the years to come — the Mexican having finished fourth in the championship standings with multiple podium finishes.

As part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme, O’Ward has already had numerous opportunities to prove himself in F1 machinery: first making his FP1 debut at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — where he finished ahead of F2 stars Jack Doohan and Felipe Drugovich — and most recently completing a testing programme in Barcelona alongside team principal Zak Brown.

Although both McLaren F1 seats are set to remain occupied until at least 2026, a double dose of F1 action this weekend — with O’Ward scheduled to compete in FP1 as well as the Young Driver Test — could possibly open doors elsewhere, but with numerous F2 stars available, the Mexican may have to hop over more hurdles than others.

 

Felipe Drugovich

Aston Martin

A dominant performance in 2022 saw Felipe Drugovich claim the F2 crown with a race to spare — causing many to claim that the Brazilian was ‘F1 ready’ heading into 2023. He subsequently joined Aston Martin as its first official test and reserve driver, and has already racked up a considerable amount of simulator hours as well as an FP1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix.

After being impressively on pace at Monza — posting similar times to Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg while finishing 18th at the chequered flag  — Drugovich will step in the AMR23 once again at Abu Dhabi with the aim to impress once again, but his chances at a full-time F1 gig for 2024 and beyond seem minimal.

Despite the sizeable performance gap between them, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are set to take up the only two F1 seats at the Silverstone marque for the foreseeable future — the former signing a multi-year contract at the start of 2023, while the latter appears to be untouchable while his father Lawrence Stroll remains as the team’s owner.

Given his obvious talent, Drugovich could be in the running for midfield seats elsewhere, but be may also have to play the long game — much like Shwartzman, Lawson and other pending F1 stars.

 

Zak O’Sullivan

Williams

An impressive second-place finish in 2023’s F3 campaign for Zak O’Sullivan — achieved through four race victories across the season — will soon be superseded by his first appearance in an F1 race weekend; an experience the young Briton has labelled “a very special moment”.

As the winner of Autosport’s BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, O’Sullivan has had a taste of F1 machinery before: piloting Aston Martin’s AMR21 around a damp Silverstone circuit last December. But his first FP1 run in Abu Dhabi will be his first experience of a Williams at the peak of its powers.

This will be the first chance for the Grove marque to gain a better understanding of the Briton’s F1 potential as his pace will be directly compared to F2 front runners for the first time.

O’Sullivan’s immediate future has also already been confirmed by Prema’s F2 outfit, with whom he will race in 2024.

 

Jake Dennis

Red Bull

Perhaps the most eye-catching addition to the FP1 line-up in Abu Dhabi will be Jake Dennis — a driver recently crowned as the 2023 Formula E world champion.

Two race victories and eight podium finishes were ultimately enough to secure the title on home soil in July, and the feat also earned him enough superlicence points to qualify for an F1 race seat.

The Briton has been a Red Bull simulator driver since 2018 — which is probably why the Milton Keynes marque extended a surprise invitation to the 28-year-old to test in Abu Dhabi.

While it won’t be his first real F1 experience, having tested the RB14 in Spain and Hungary, it will almost certainly be his quickest — navigating Yas Marina in the best car F1 currently has to offer.