Ferrari: Antonio Fuoco to drive the SF-25 in Mexico, replacing Lewis Hamilton in FP1

Ferrari: Antonio Fuoco to drive the SF-25 in Mexico, replacing Lewis Hamilton in FP1. Antonio Fuoco will drive the SF-25 in FP1 at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s Italian endurance star and simulator driver Antonio Fuoco will take the wheel of the Ferrari SF-25 during the first free practice session of the Mexican Grand Prix, replacing Lewis Hamilton. The decision comes as part of the FIA’s rookie session requirement, which obliges every team to run new or less experienced drivers in four FP1 sessions throughout the season. On the other side of the garage, Charles Leclerc has already fulfilled this obligation by giving up his car to rookie Dino Beganovic in Bahrain and Austria.The Mexican Grand Prix will therefore see an Italian driver return to the cockpit of a Ferrari Formula 1 car. Antonio Fuoco, now a key figure in the Prancing Horse’s endurance racing program and winner of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Ferrari 499P, will step into the SF-25 for the first free practice session in Mexico City. He will drive for one hour in place of Lewis Hamilton to complete one of the remaining rookie session obligations still pending for the team.

According to the FIA regulations, each team must allow debutant or less experienced drivers to take part in four FP1 sessions during the year — double the amount required in 2023. The aim is to provide young or emerging drivers with valuable experience behind the wheel of current cars, beyond private testing opportunities that many teams cannot regularly afford using TPC (Testing Previous Cars) machines.

Fuoco was chosen to replace Hamilton because the British driver has not yet sat out any FP1 session this season, whereas his teammate Charles Leclerc already handed his car over to Dino Beganovic in Bahrain and Austria. This ensures Ferrari complies fully with the rookie test rule before the end of the championship.

The decision to hold the rookie session in Mexico was strategic. Alongside Abu Dhabi, the Mexican circuit represents one of the most suitable venues among the final five races of the season to fulfill the requirement. The weekend does not feature a sprint format, and the track is well known to the drivers, meaning that losing one hour of running carries less impact compared to other events.

Out of the remaining five rounds, two — Brazil and Qatar — will feature the sprint weekend format, where teams only have a single free practice session before qualifying. Running a rookie in those conditions would be impractical, as it would sacrifice vital setup time. Las Vegas, meanwhile, is a street circuit where drivers need maximum time on track to find the limits, and the risk of an incident with a less experienced driver could disrupt the schedule.

For Antonio Fuoco, this outing marks a return to familiar territory. The Italian driver has long been a vital part of the Scuderia’s testing and simulation programs, contributing to the team’s development work and maintaining sharpness through sessions in Ferrari’s TPC cars — machines that are at least two seasons old. Although not a rookie in the traditional sense, Antonio Fuoco fits the FIA’s criteria for the rookie sessions and brings extensive simulator experience that will benefit the team during this one-hour outing in Mexico.