Alpine Formula 1 hopeful Paul Aron's 2025 programme has been expanded with a loan to rival F1 team Sauber for two extra practice sessions.
The Estonian, a former Mercedes junior who signed with Alpine at the end of last year, is on the sidelines this year, racing-wise, after finishing third in Formula 2 in 2024.
But Alpine's ongoing uncertainties over its longer-term F1 line-up means he remains firmly in the picture, and the extra FP1 sessions - even with another team - will give the Enstone outfit a further chance to evaluate him.
Aron will drive Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in opening practice for the British Grand Prix at the start of July and the Hungarian GP at the start of August prior to F1's summer break.
Sauber is only required to run FP1-only rookies in two sessions this year rather than the usual four, as rookie Gabriel Bortoleto fulfilled the rule requirement on his side of the garage across Melbourne and Shanghai in March.
It ran Robert Shwartzman as its FP1-only driver last year, but Shwartzman is competing full-time in IndyCar in 2025 - while long-time reserve driver Theo Pourchaire was let go at the end of last year.
Sauber running another team's junior driver is thus logical - but Alpine taking up the opportunity is notable.
The team says Aron "has been an important asset on the driver-in-loop simulator in both 2025 and 2026 car development work, as well as participating in six days in the 2023-spec A523 F1 car as part of the team's testing of previous cars [TPC] programme".
"It is no secret that my desire is to one day race full-time in F1 so any chance to be on track in a competitive environment is an important stepping stone," Aron said.
"It is in our interests to maximise any driving opportunities for our young talent," said Alpine F1 chief Flavio Briatore.
"We are seeing varied success from last year's Formula 2 drivers this year up and down the grid, and Paul was a frontrunner in that category, so this is an opportunity for him and the team to continue his progress and to give him valuable track time."
Alpine says that Aron "will complete the team's three remaining mandatory rookie sessions" after his Sauber loan.
At first glance this is curious, as in theory Alpine should only have two mandatory rookie sessions remaining.
Jack Doohan's Australian GP FP1 could've counted towards that total, though Doohan's start in the 2024 finale meant his Shanghai FP1 already didn't count - as he no longer fulfilled the 'fewer than two F1 starts' rookie requirement. However, Alpine has also already run Toyota endurance driver Ryo Hirakawa at Suzuka.
But the Melbourne season opener was not planned by the team to count towards its rookie-only total, so Alpine has accounted for three more beyond Hirakawa's.
The Alpine seat alongside Pierre Gasly remains a source of much intrigue, with the issue not settled definitively by the mid-season replacement of Doohan by Franco Colapinto.
Colapinto has had a largely difficult time since being drafted in, and The Race revealed earlier on Monday that F1 veteran Valtteri Bottas is the leading candidate to come in should Alpine decide to make another change.
It is not clear yet whether Aron making a big impression in his FP1 runs - the way current F2 title contender Alex Dunne did running for McLaren earlier this week - could change that in the short term.
