Herta, Minì and Fornaroli lead ten F1 stand-ins for Mexico City practice

Ten Formula 1 teams will hand a race car to a reserve or junior driver in first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix on Friday. Colton Herta takes Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac, Gabriele Minì makes his F1 weekend debut in Franco Colapinto’s Alpine and Leonardo Fornaroli drives Lando Norris’s McLaren. The session starts at 12:30 local time, 19:30 CET and 14:30 ET.

Start times for the whole weekend and how to watch: Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 start times.

Who drives in Mexico City FP1

Even Max Verstappen steps aside: Red Bull runs Ayumu Iwasa in his car. It is Iwasa’s fourth FP1 outing of the season after Barcelona and Monza in the Red Bull and Austria with Racing Bulls. Racing Bulls hands Liam Lawson’s car to Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov. Only Ferrari had not confirmed its plans at the time of writing. Every regular driver returns for second practice at 16:00 local time (23:00 CET, 18:00 ET).

The reason for the crowd is the rookie rule. Each team must give a driver with fewer than two Grand Prix starts at least four first practice sessions per season, two in each car. With the season almost over, Mexico City and São Paulo are where teams fill what is still missing.

Herta’s fifth Friday for Cadillac

For Herta it is another step in a long project. Mexico City is his fifth practice outing for Cadillac this season, and every session counts towards the FIA super licence he needs for a race seat. His outing at Monza in September ended early with a hydraulic problem on the same day he crashed in Formula 2 (Herta’s Monza Friday).

Bottas sits out the first hour in the car he races on Sunday. See his profile: Valtteri Bottas.

Two debutants, one world title contender

Minì, fourth in Formula 2 with MP Motorsport and 44 points behind leader Rafael Câmara, gets his first F1 weekend outing in the A526. Colapinto gets his car back for second practice.

Freddie Slater also makes his F1 weekend debut, with Audi in Mexico City and São Paulo. Audi racing director Allan McNish said “it is the right time for Freddie to step up.”

The most unusual name is Hirakawa. The Haas reserve drives Esteban Ocon‘s car on Friday, eight days before he can become world endurance champion with Toyota in the 6 Hours of Monza. The #8 Toyota he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley leads the sister car by 17 points (WEC Monza 2026 entry list).

Fornaroli returns to the MCL40 for Mexico City and São Paulo. “I’m really excited to return to the MCL40 and do two more official Free Practice 1 sessions with the team,” he said on formula1.com. In 2027 he races McLaren’s Hypercar in the WEC.

Mercedes reserve Frederik Vesti confirmed his run in George Russell’s car himself on X: “Some good news for a Tuesday! I’ll be driving FP1 in Mexico City in the W17.”

At Williams, Luke Browning drives Alex Albon’s car in Mexico and Carlos Sainz’s in Brazil, his last two rookie sessions of the year. Jak Crawford is back in Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin at the track where he made his practice debut in 2025.

Our read

Ten changes in one hour make the FP1 timesheet close to useless as a form guide. That matters more in Mexico City than elsewhere. At more than 2,200 metres the thin air is hard on cooling, brakes and turbochargers, and Honda already said it expects Friday to be a real test. Teams with a rookie in one car do half their high-altitude work with a driver who will not race. For George Russell and Lando Norris that means one hour less to dial in a car on a weekend where Kimi Antonelli can clinch the title.

Second practice at 16:00, the title can be settled on Sunday

Second practice follows at 16:00 local time (23:00 CET, 18:00 ET), with all regular drivers back. Qualifying is on Saturday at 15:00 local (22:00 CET, 17:00 ET), and the race starts on Sunday 1 November at 14:00 local, 21:00 CET and 15:00 ET. Results will appear on our Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 results page.

Which stand-in impresses you most on Friday: Herta, Minì or Fornaroli? Tell us in the comments.