F1 2025 Mexico City GP saw nine rookies on the road; here's how they performed

It's that time of the year again, where the championship title isn't the only one stake, but driver seats are too! With many teams yet to confirm their drivers line-up for next year, we saw a number of rookie drivers participating in the Free Practice 1 (FP1) session of the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix, with nine of the ten teams running a designated rookie driver. This is alsoto fulfill the mandatory young driver outings required by the F1 regulations.

For Red Bull Racing, F2 driver Arvid Lindblad replaced Max Verstappen while IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward drove for McLaren instead of Lando Norris. Ferrari brought in Antonio Fuoco (WEC/Development Driver) as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes gave Frederik Vesti (Test/Reserve Driver) a chance instead of George Russell.

Aston Martin had F2 driver Jak Crawford driving in place of Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly was swapped with Reserve/Test Driver Paul Aron for Alpine, Racing Bulls has Ayumu Iwasa (Super Formula driver) driving instead of Liam Lawson, Luke Browning (F2 driver) for Williams and Haas designated Ryo Hirakawa (WEC/Reserve Driver).

Charging in full speed

Indian origin driver, Arvid Lindblad (Red Bull) was the most impressive of the dedicated FP1 rookies, finishing P6 overall and clocking a time that was actually quicker than his team's regular driver, Yuki Tsunoda (P8). Pato O'Ward (McLaren) was the next-quickest rookie, finishing P13 in his home Grand Prix.

He is currently competing in Formula 2 and is widely considered a leading candidate for a seat at the Racing Bulls team in the future, potentially for the 2026 season. His performance in FP1 added more pressure to Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, who are also fighting for a spot in the Red Bull structure.

Undercover agent

Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari) was making his maiden F1 practice outing. Kick Sauber (with drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto) was the only team not to run an additional FP1-only rookie, having already fulfilled their mandatory quota for the season.

While Mercedes rookie Frederik Vesti was driving his car in FP1, George Russell snuck into the grandstands to watch the session with the fans He even wore a lucha libre-style wrestling mask as a disguise to go undercover among the crowd, particularly in the famous Foro Sol stadium section of the circuit. He later shared the moment on social media, noting that he hadn't watched F1 cars on track as a spectator in years.

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