Lewis Hamilton is set to be replaced for the Mexican Grand Prix as Ferrari has announced a new driver will take hold of the SF-25 for first practice.
Hamilton crawled home to finish fourth after he suspected he had gotten a puncture and nearly lost fourth to championship leader Oscar Piastri.
Now, with the Mexican Grand Prix looming this weekend, Ferrari has decided that the seven-time world champion will watch on from the sidelines for FP1 as the Scuderia has drafted in a rookie to replace him.
Antonio Fuoco has been named as the driver to replace Hamilton for the first session in Mexico. The Hypercar driver for Ferrari will be making the jump to F1 machinery on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton will be replaced for first practice at the Mexican Grand Prix
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F1 teams are required to run a rookie in at least two FP1 sessions per car throughout the season.
Hamilton has yet to sit out of any sessions this season as he struggles to get to grips with his new Italian machinery after making the shock move from Mercedes at the start of the season.
Fuoco, 29, announced he would be getting behind the wheel of the Briton’s Ferrari on social media.
He posted on Instagram pictures of him behind the wheel, with the caption: “Got the call.
“Mexico see you on track for FP1 Let’s do this.”
In Formula 1, a rookie is described as someone who has not started two Grand Prixs throughout their career.
Charles Leclerc has sat out enough sessions this season so he will taking part in every session until the end of the season
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The Italian driver has never participated in an F1 weekend, but has been a development and simulator driver for Ferrari for years.
Charles Leclerc has already been replaced twice this season, meaning that from now till the end of the season, he will not have to sit out any practice sessions.
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Elsewhere, George Russell will be replaced by Fred Vesti, and Max Verstappen will be replaced by Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad.
After Sunday’s US Grand Prix, Hamilton revealed he was finally starting to get to grips with his Ferrari machinery.
He said: “I’m finally feeling like I’m on top of the car. I think we still have some improvements we could make.
Lewis Hamilton has revealed he is finally starting to get to grips with his Ferrari car
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“We can definitely extract more, particularly on my side, because qualifying wasn’t as good as I had hoped and the start wasn’t great.
“There are always areas to improve, but it’s positive going into the next race, so I hope we can have an even better weekend.”