A 2026 Formula 1 rookie and a point-less Formula 2 driver are among the nine FP1-only 'rookies' at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
All teams have to run a rookie - a driver with fewer than two grand prix starts - twice in each car during a practice session this year, and Abu Dhabi is a popular choice to do it, given it's the end-of-the-season and FP1 is run in daytime conditions, unrepresentative of those in qualifying and the grand prix.
Mercedes and Sauber are the only teams to have already completed their allocations - meaning the eight other teams will all be fielding at least one rookie, with Aston Martin choosing to field two.
Among the nine rookies is newly confirmed 2026 Racing Bulls F1 driver Arvid Lindblad, who will take over Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull for the session.
Lindblad has already completed two practice sessions this year for Red Bull at Silverstone and in Mexico.
Freshly crowned Super Formula champion Ayumu Iwasa will return to an F1 cockpit at Lindblad's 2026 team, Racing Bulls, having also driven for it in Mexico.
Championship chaser Oscar Piastri will miss FP1 as IndyCar race winner Pato O'Ward has his second practice outing of the year, having driven in front of his home crowd in Mexico.
For the second year running, Charles Leclerc will be joined on track in FP1 by his brother Arthur at Ferrari.
The younger Leclerc has been racing in the GT World Challenge series this year alongside his simulator and development duties with Ferrari.
Aston Martin's third driver for 2026, Jak Crawford, will make his second FP1 appearance of the season, but he won't be the only rookie at the team.
Even though the team will have satisfied its 2025 rookie requirements with Crawford, Aston Martin is going to run a rookie for the fifth time this year - that's because F2 driver Cian Shields will drive Fernando Alonso's car.
The 20-year-old finished 30th in Formula 3 last year with a best finish of 14th, before graduating to F2 this year, where he's the last-placed full-time driver with zero points to his name.
Shields has completed over 500km of private F1 testing with Aston Martin as part of its Testing of Previous Cars programme.
Shields, Crawford and Williams's Luke Browning (driving in place of Alex Albon) will dovetail their FP1 runs with the final weekend of their respective F2 programmes in Abu Dhabi.
Paul Aron, who finished third in F2 in 2024, will drive for Alpine. That marks his fifth FP1 outing of the season, having completed two on loan at Sauber earlier this year.
Super Formula champion Ryo Hirakawa will also make his fifth FP1 start of the year - his fourth for Haas, having driven for Alpine at Suzuka.
Abu Dhabi GP FP1 rookies
McLaren: Pato O'Ward
Ferrari: Arthur Leclerc
Red Bull: Arvid Lindblad
Aston Martin: Jak Crawford; Cian Shields
Alpine: Paul Aron
Haas: Ryo Hirakawa
Racing Bulls: Ayumu Iwasa
Williams: Luke Browning
