Four teams will hand their cars to reserve drivers for first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final round before Formula 1's summer shutdown. For several of the stand-ins, Friday morning at the Hungaroring is less about set-up data and more about a 2027 seat.
McLaren, Haas, Alpine and Cadillac are all running rookies to satisfy the rule that every team must field a driver with two or fewer F1 starts in four practice sessions across the season. As Crash.net's Sam Hall detailed, Oscar Piastri is the biggest name on the sidelines: McLaren reserve Leonardo Fornaroli takes over the MCL40, which carries a significant upgrade this weekend. Colton Herta replaces Valtteri Bottas at Cadillac, Ryo Hirakawa steps in for Oliver Bearman at Haas, and Paul Aron drives Franco Colapinto's Alpine.
For Fornaroli, the reigning Formula 2 champion, it is a second outing after June's Barcelona weekend, and the audience matters. "I'm looking forward to driving the MCL40 in this weekend's Free Practice 1 at the Hungaroring," Fornaroli 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."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella left little doubt the 21-year-old is being lined up for a race seat, even if not necessarily at Woking. "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." Hall reported that McLaren is trying to arrange further FP1 runs for Fornaroli at rival teams, with fellow reserve Pato O'Ward having asked to be released from his F1 commitments.
The obvious vacancy is at Haas, where Esteban Ocon's long-term future is unresolved. Team principal Ayao Komatsu is running Hirakawa on Friday and has assessed Fornaroli too, but he is not tipping his hand. "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," Komatsu said, before adding: "I don't know if we need a new one. My focus is with our two drivers."
Autosport reports Haas is weighing both Fornaroli and Formula 2 rival Camara for 2027, and argues nationality should be "no factor" in the decision. Herta, meanwhile, keeps up what Hall called his "march towards an F1 seat," having already deputised for Sergio Perez at Cadillac in Barcelona.
The scheduling is unusually tight for the Cadillac camp: Formula 2 races in Budapest this weekend, with qualifying following soon after FP1, leaving Herta almost no time to switch machinery. Aron, a former Mercedes junior now making his third practice appearance of the year, completes a rookie quartet with one hour to make an impression before the grid breaks for August.
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*Originally published on [NewsFormula.one](https://newsformula.one/article/piastri-sits-out-as-rookies-turn-hungary-fp1-into-2027-auditions). Visit for full coverage.*