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Red Bull has announced that Ayumu Iwasa will be replacing the defending F1 champion Max Verstappen during the first practice session of the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix which is set to take place from 11 to 13th April.
Ayumu Iwasa will replace Max Verstappen in FP1 of Bahrain Grand Prix
The 23-year-old Japanese driver will take over from Max Verstappen and will get to drive his RB21 in the opening practice session of the Bahrain weekend in the latest announcement of a rookie driver filling in for a regular race driver.
The reason is simple as the FP1 session in Bahrain is one of the most ruthless of the year. It takes place in scorching heat as every other session, qualifying and race takes place in rather cooler conditions.
On top of it, it is mandatory for every regular race driver to hand over their cars twice during the ongoing season to a rookie driver for an FP1 session. Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Red Bull decided to give Iwasa a run in their RB21 as Verstappen will commence duties from the FP2 session.
It will be the sixth confirmed replacement for FP1 session in Bahrain as Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Haas, Aston Martin and Williams all will give a run to their rookie drivers in order to fulfil the first of their four required sessions in Sakhir.
This is not the first time that Iwasa will get to drive an Formula 1 car as he drove for Racing Bulls in the FP1 session at the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix. He even took part in the post-Abu Dhabi test but this outing will mark his Red Bull debut.
Max Verstappen currently sees himself second in the Drivers' standings with 61 points to his name as he is one point shy of leader Lando Norris. In the constructors' standings, Red Bull have seen a dip as they are third in the table with 61 points. They are behind second placed Mercedes (75) and leaders McLaren (111).
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