The Spaniard Álex Palou, who will get behind the wheel of a McLaren F1, heads the list of ‘new’ drivers who will ride during the first free practice sessions on Friday at the Austin Circuit.
This Friday, the free practice of the Grand Prix of the United States of Formula 1, will have nothing more and nothing less than five ‘new’ faces on the track. Several promising youngsters and/or contenders for starting seats next season will try to prove their talent to their respective teams and in front of a worldwide audience.
Among them is the Spanish Álex Palou, Indycar champion in 2021, who has been part of the McLaren F1 team’s test program for a few months. After participating in several days of private training on the circuits of Barcelona and Austria, the Barcelona native faces an official session.
Palou will sit in Daniel Ricciardo’s car and will be able to ‘measure’ Lando Norris, although they will probably have different test programs, so from the outside we will not be able to know which of the two has left a better feeling.
Whatever the outcome, Palou will continue to race in Indycar for the Chip Ganassi team for at least another year, but after that he could join McLaren, at least in the American category.
Another young promise, Frenchman Théo Pourchaire, will get into Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo in Free Practice 1 in Austin. A member of Sauber’s young driver program and Formula 2 driver, the 19-year-old has already been linked several times with a starting job at Alfa Romeo, but Guanyu Zhou’s strong performance in his debut season has prevented him from gaining access to the coveted seat.
Many more possibilities of making the jump to F1 next season have the American Logan Sargeant, who will get into a Williams F1 during Free Practice 1. In the Grove team there is a free position after the announced departure of Nicholas Latifi, and Sargeant He hasn’t done badly in F2 this year (he’s third). In addition, he is American, a key market in the future of F1.
We will also see Robert Shwartzman on the track this Friday, who surprisingly will drive a Ferrari during Free Practice 1. It is not unusual for the Italian team to give up its car to a young driver, but this time they are obliged, since the FIA has introduced a rule for all teams to sit an inexperienced driver in their car for two test sessions.
The list of novelties is completed by Antonio Giovinazzi, who although he does not count as a young driver (last year he was the starter for Alfa Romeo), it is believed that he aspires to a seat in the Haas team next season, since the continuity of Mick Schumacher in the team is in doubt. A few days ago, Gene Haas, owner of the team, accused him of having “cost a fortune” for his accidents.
