(Motorsport-Total.com) – Oscar Piastri will miss the 1st Free Practice session at the Formula 1 race in Budapest and let Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli take the wheel. The driver change happens within the framework of the Friday driver rule, according to which each team must hand over two Free Practice sessions per car to a rookie.
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For Fornaroli, it is already the second practice session he is allowed to complete in the 2026 season. He was already allowed to drive the MCL40 in the first Free Practice in Barcelona, at that time as a replacement for world champion Lando Norris. Thus, McLaren has already handed over half of the required sessions to a youngster.
Fornaroli will be used in an extremely important session for McLaren: In Budapest, the racing team will have an extensive update package that needs to be tested. In addition, the debut of the Macarena rear wing, which was actually supposed to be tried out in Austria, is pending.
McLaren thinks highly of Fornaroli and wants to provide him with opportunities for 2027. The Italian is being linked with Haas, where Esteban Ocon is likely to have poor chances of continued employment. However, there is strong competition for the cockpit from Ferrari junior Rafael Camara or Yuki Tsunoda.
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| Team | Regular Driver | Friday Driver | Grand Prix |
|---|---|---|---|
| McLaren | Lando Norris | Leonardo Fornaroli | Barcelona |
| Oscar Piastri | Leonardo Fornaroli | Hungary | |
| Mercedes | George Russell | ||
| Kimi Antonelli | Frederik Vesti | Barcelona | |
| Red Bull | Max Verstappen | ||
| Isack Hadjar | Ayumu Iwasa | Barcelona | |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerc | Dino Beganovic | Austria |
| Lewis Hamilton | Dino Beganovic | Barcelona | |
| Williams | Alexander Albon | Luke Browning | Barcelona |
| Carlos Sainz | Luke Browning | Austria | |
| Racing Bulls | Liam Lawson | Ayumu Iwasa | Austria |
| Arvid Lindblad | – | ||
| – | |||
| Aston Martin | Fernando Alonso | Jak Crawford | Japan |
| Jak Crawford | Belgium | ||
| Lance Stroll | Jak Crawford | Austria | |
| Haas | Esteban Ocon | Ryo Hirakawa | Austria |
| Oliver Bearman | Ryo Hirakawa | Hungary | |
| Audi | Nico Hülkenberg | Paul Aron | Barcelona |
| Gabriel Bortoleto | Paul Aron | Austria | |
| Alpine | Pierre Gasly | ||
| Franco Colapinto | Paul Aron | Hungary | |
| Cadillac | Sergio Perez | Colton Herta | Barcelona |
| Colton Herta | |||
| Valtteri Bottas | Colton Herta | ||
| Colton Herta |
In the other car, Oliver Bearman is expected to continue – but not in the first practice session at the Hungaroring: The Briton will also sit out and hand over his cockpit to Toyota protégé Ryo Hirakawa, who already sat in Ocon’s car in Austria.
A third rookie, Paul Aron, will be deployed. For the Estonian, it is already his third session this year. However, after being loaned to Audi in Barcelona and Spielberg, he will now drive for his actual regular team Alpine, where he will replace Franco Colapinto.
Alpine has not yet given a practice session to a Friday driver and therefore still has to do so three more times after the summer break (for an overview of all Friday drivers).
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