LEWIS HAMILTON will drive with a new team-mate at the Bahrain Grand Prix, it has been revealed.
Ferrari are one of six teams who are using the next Formula One race to fulfil a little-known rule.
Instead of Charles Leclerc, 40-year-old Hamilton will instead partner 21-year-old Swedish driver Dino Beganovic for Free Practice One.
Likewise, Red Bull will also bring a new driver to their lineup for the Friday session.
Fresh off of his win at the Japanese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen will give way to Japanese F2 star Ayumu Iwasa for the session.
It means Yuki Tsunoda, who had a tough first race with Red Bull after swapping with Liam Lawson, will have his third team-mate of the season – even though this is only for one session.
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Mercedes, Aston Martin, Haas and Williams have also announced they will be running a rookie driver, with George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Ollie Bearman and Carlos Sainz respectively all stepping down.
Russell is giving up his seat for Danish youngster Frederik Vesti, while former F2 champion Felipe Drugovich is replacing Alonso.
Bearman, only a rookie this season himself, is giving up his seat to Ryo Hirakawa and Sainz will cede his seat to British racer Luke Browning.
The sweeping changes come as part of a requirement for all F1 teams to run rookies – drivers with fewer than two Grand Prix to their name – at least twice in each of their cars in practice sessions this season.
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Teams have had to run a rookie in at least once in each of their cars in FP1 since 2022, with this season seeing the requirement doubled.
Alpine already completed one of these mandatory runs last weekend when Ryo Hirakawa ran in place of Jack Doohan – a contributing factor to Doohan’s 185mph crash in FP2.
The reason for Bahrain being such a popular choice for rookie running is due to the known quantities of it.
Teams already have lots of data from the track after pre-season testing was completed at the Sakhir circuit.
The Middle East race also represents the first race weekend of the season where UK fans will not have to be out of bed early on Sunday morning.
Instead, the Bahrain race will take place at 4pm UK time, with qualifying on Saturday running from 5pm.
McLaren’s Lando Norris leads the World Drivers Championship from Verstappen by a single point after the Dutchman’s imperious win at last weekend’s Japan GP.
Bahrain GP FP1 rookies
Rookies participating in FP1 in Bahrain this weekend:
Dino Beganovic, Ferrari – for Charles Leclerc
Ayuma Iwasa, Red Bull – for Max Verstappen
Frederik Vesti, Mercedes – for George Russell
Felipe Drugovich, Aston Martin – for Fernando Alonso
Ryo Hirakawa, Haas – for Ollie Bearman
Luke Browning, Williams – for Carlos Sainz
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
