Norris and Verstappen to Miss Mexico Practice

The first practice session of the Mexico Grand Prix in Formula 1 will take place on Friday. McLaren driver Lando Norris and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen are among ten drivers who will not be on track in this session.

The reason is that teams are required to give young drivers a chance to test their cars during the season. Each team must give a rookie driver a seat in at least two practice sessions for its two cars. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico is not a street circuit, and the race does not use the sprint format. For this reason, most teams are using this opportunity to meet the requirement.

Ayumu Iwasa will replace Verstappen. Iwasa made his first practice appearances for Red Bull this year at Barcelona and Monza. Norris will hand his car to Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli. At Mercedes, reserve driver Frederik Vesti will take the place of George Russell. Ferrari will be the only team to field both of its regular drivers in this opening session.

At Racing Bulls, Nikola Tsolov, one of the standout names from Formula 2, will make his F1 practice debut in place of Liam Lawson. Racing Bulls is the only team that has not yet announced its 2027 drivers. The line-up is expected to stay the same given Lawson's performance this season and Arvid Lindblad's steady rookie period. In that case, the possibility that Tsolov is left without a seat has come up.

Jak Crawford will take part in practice for the fourth time for Aston Martin, and former IndyCar driver Colton Herta will do so for the fifth time for Cadillac. At Williams, British driver Luke Browning will take the place of Alex Albon. At Haas, Ryo Hirakawa returns in place of Esteban Ocon. Formula 2 driver Gabriele Mini will also get behind the wheel of an F1 car for the first time in practice.