Three Mexico FP1 changes with high driver market stakes
All but one of the 11 Formula 1 teams will be fielding an FP1-only rookie in Mexico, but some of those changes have particularly high stakes for F1's driver market.
Ferrari is the only team not making a change to its driver line-up. Here's the full list of the swaps elsewhere, including three F1 weekend debuts (for Gabriele Mini, Nikola Tsolov and Freddie Slater).
Mexico FP1 changes
McLaren: Leonardo Fornaroli for Lando Norris
Red Bull: Ayumu Iwasa for Max Verstappen
Mercedes: Frederik Vesti for George Russell
Alpine: Gabriele Mini for Franco Colapinto
Williams: Luke Browning for Alex Albon
Racing Bulls: Nikola Tsolov for Liam Lawson
Haas: Ryo Hirakawa for Esteban Ocon
Audi: Freddie Slater for Gabriel Bortoleto
Aston Martin: Jak Crawford for Lance Stroll
Cadillac: Colton Herta for Valtteri Bottas
There are some familiar FP1 names there who have already driven in 2026, but Mexico is probably the most interesting roster of the season, with three names in particular standing out as significant in F1 driver market terms…
Herta's multi-year mission complete?
Cadillac believes Colton Herta is now just one point away from finally earning the 40 he needs to successfully apply for an F1 superlicence.
That's if he can successfully complete the mandated 100 kilometres of running in FP1 when he takes over Valtteri Bottas's Cadillac on Friday.
There's no guarantee of that given how tough the conditions are in Mexico and the various reliability issues F1 newcomer Cadillac has encountered.
But even if he doesn't get that 100km, Cadillac will ensure he ticks off that last point somewhere else. The team has already satisfied the rookie driver rule; it's only putting Herta in the car for FP1 in Mexico to make sure he gets to the 40 points.
That's all so Herta can officially be an option to replace Bottas for 2027 should the team decide he's the best driver for the job.
"Doing FP1s is always very difficult to show your speed or the level you're at, but now I think he's having more time in the car and in the simulator, so we're starting to see more of his speed," Perez said of Herta.
"It's not my decision, but I think it will be down to Marcin [Budkowski, Cadillac team boss] to decide who they want in the car.
"I'm also working really well with Valtteri. I think he's been very unfortunate in a few races. In Austin, he showed very strong pace, so there isn't an easy decision for the team."
Perez added that "the next three or four months are really crucial in our preparation" and thus having the right drivers will be important.
Yuki Tsunoda and Mercedes reserve driver Frederik Vesti - replacing George Russell in the same FP1 session - are also among the Cadillac contenders, with the team yet to make a final decision.
That's why Herta performing strongly in FP1 is so important. It was in Mexico that both Ollie Bearman (Haas) and Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) made such strong first impressions with their future teams.
That can't be judged by headline laptime alone, but by how the driver diligently delivers a runplan in a compact timeframe.
Herta has impressed the team in his FP1 outings so far, but this one carries the greatest pressure so far as Cadillac's 2027 driver decision looms.
Red Bull's next F1 driver?
Formula 2 championship contender Nikola Tsolov is making his F1 weekend debut with Racing Bulls, having first tested an F1 car at Imola in late August.
There were whispers of Tsolov earning that Racing Bulls seat full-time for 2027 amid the peak of his F2 season, where he won four races in four weekends.
That would seem a long shot now, as it would mean moving Liam Lawson or Arvid Lindblad aside when both are performing strongly.
Lawson is the clear best-of-the-rest driver behind those in the top four teams in the points standings and has won the midfield fight three weekends in a row.
Lindblad has had a solid rookie year alongside Lawson, so Tsolov may need to wait until 2028 for his chance.
Impressing now in Mexico will be important, though, for Tsolov. The aforementioned strong Hadjar Mexico 2023 FP1 came 14 months before he was confirmed as a Racing Bulls F1 driver.
Tsolov is next in line for an F1 seat, but it's very easy to be jumped in that queue if you don't impress when given the opportunity.
And given F2 is such a hard series to read, as impressive as Tsolov has been this year - he's been a worthy match for 2027 Haas F1 driver Rafael Camara - it means nothing if you can't translate that performance when in an F1 car.
Audi's first F1 protege makes his debut
Audi's first F1 junior Freddie Slater has back-to-back FP1 outings in Mexico and Brazil to kick off his time in an F1 car.
The 18-year-old narrowly missed out on this year's Formula 3 title after a mechanical failure in the Monza feature race and a nightmare finale weekend in Madrid.
But that came at the end of a season where he finished on the podium in eight consecutive weekends, backing up the potential he showed by winning three consecutive titles out of karting - Ginetta Juniors, Italian Formula 4 and the Formula Regional European Championship.
Audi signing Slater was a huge coup for its fledgling F1 driver development scheme, it having fought off strong and persistent interest from rivals.
There's less of a ‘perform now' pressure on Slater than the likes of Tsolov and Herta, and he'll have the chance to build up through his back-to-back sessions, but there's still plenty of expectation on Slater.
He's not a contender for a 2027 F1 seat as he'll be racing in Formula 2 next year with defending series champion Invicta, but you can expect to see a lot more of Slater in an F1 car over the next few seasons.
