Formula 1's rookie rule bites hardest in Hungary this weekend. Four teams - McLaren, Haas, Alpine and Cadillac - will sit their race drivers for first practice at the Hungaroring, the last session before the summer shutdown, and hand the cars to reserves who each have a point to prove.
The regulation is simple: every team must give a driver with two or fewer grand prix starts four practice outings a season, split across both cars. The consequence in Budapest, as Crash.net's Sam Hall set out, is that Oscar Piastri stands down for McLaren junior Leonardo Fornaroli, who inherits an MCL40 fitted with a notable upgrade. Valtteri Bottas makes way for Colton Herta at Cadillac, Oliver Bearman for Ryo Hirakawa at Haas, and Franco Colapinto for Paul Aron at Alpine.
Fornaroli, last year's Formula 2 champion, has done this once before, in Barcelona in June. He is not treating a second run as routine. "I'm looking forward to driving the MCL40 in this weekend's Free Practice 1 at the Hungaroring," he said. "It's going to be another fantastic opportunity to continue my development with the car and build on the valuable work we completed together with the team in Barcelona."
Where he ends up in 2027 is the subplot. McLaren principal Andrea Stella talks about the 21-year-old as a driver bound for the grid, one way or another. "Leonardo is certainly an asset for Formula 1 in the future," Stella said. "We want him to drive, certainly in the future he may drive for McLaren Racing, but I think we will work together with Leonardo to explore possibilities in Formula 1." According to Hall, McLaren is even shopping Fornaroli's FP1 services to other teams, with reserve Pato O'Ward asking to be let out of his own F1 obligations.
Haas is the seat most people are watching, given the uncertainty over Esteban Ocon. Ayao Komatsu, who runs Hirakawa on Friday, has looked at Fornaroli as well but refuses to commit. "Leo is the reigning F2 champion, he is a strong driver and has a really good training program with McLaren, so we are happy with the chance to take a closer look at him," the Haas boss said, then hedged: "I don't know if we need a new one. My focus is with our two drivers."
Autosport says the team is comparing Fornaroli with F2 rival Camara for 2027 and reckons nationality should carry "no factor." Herta's own campaign for a race seat rolls on at Cadillac, where he previously covered for Sergio Perez.
His Friday will be frantic: with F2 racing in Budapest and qualifying hard on the heels of FP1, there is barely a gap to change cars. Aron, once a Mercedes junior, makes a third practice appearance of the year to complete the four-man rookie intake, each with 60 minutes to be noticed before F1 disappears for August.
