Lewis HamiltonPlayer·Lewis Hamilton will miss the first free practice session at the Barcelona Grand Prix, as Scuderia FerrariTeam·Scuderia Ferrari turns Friday’s opening hour into another audition for its young talent.
The seven-time world champion becomes the seventh regular Formula 1 driver confirmed to sit out FP1 at Circuit de Barcelona-CatalunyaVenue·Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, underscoring a clear trend of teams using the session to blood junior drivers rather than fine-tune their race set-up.
In Hamilton’s place, Dino BeganovicPlayer·Dino Beganovic steps into the SF-26 for the initial 60 minutes of running. The Swedish Formula 2 driver already has two FP1 appearances with Ferrari this season, and this latest outing marks his third opportunity to drive current Formula 1 machinery for the team since the start of the 2025 campaign.
Ferrari trails only a handful of rivals in pushing emerging talent into live Grand Prix weekends, and another run for Beganovic signals continued trust in his development programme. For the Italian team, FP1 in Barcelona offers a familiar, high-load circuit on which to gather detailed data with a fresh driver, while protecting Hamilton’s workload at the start of a demanding European stretch.
Hamilton is far from alone on the sidelines. Andrea Kimi AntonelliPlayer·Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Lando NorrisPlayer·Lando Norris, Isack HadjarPlayer·Isack Hadjar, Alex AlbonPlayer·Alex Albon, Nico HülkenbergPlayer·Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio PérezPlayer·Sergio Pérez will all also skip FP1 at Barcelona. In their places, Frederik VestiPlayer·Frederik Vesti, Leonardo FornaroliPlayer·Leonardo Fornaroli, Ayumu IwasaPlayer·Ayumu Iwasa, Luke BrowningPlayer·Luke Browning, Paul AronPlayer·Paul Aron and Colton HertaPlayer·Colton Herta will run for MercedesTeam·Mercedes, McLarenTeam·McLaren, Red BullTeam·Red Bull, WilliamsTeam·Williams, AudiTeam·Audi and CadillacTeam·Cadillac respectively.
The scale of those changes turns the opening session into a showcase for the next wave of talent. Several of the stand-ins are already race winners or front-runners in feeder series, while others bring experience from top-level single-seaters and international championships. For all of them, Barcelona offers a rare chance to work directly with Formula 1 engineers during a live race weekend and to demonstrate both speed and technical feedback.
From a competitive standpoint, the reshuffle inevitably changes the character of FP1. Teams lose one hour of direct preparation with their race drivers on a circuit that still rewards detailed set-up work, especially in the long, fast corners that expose weaknesses in balance and tyre management. With full-time drivers returning for FP2, there will be greater pressure on them to compress their long-run assessments and qualifying simulations into fewer laps.
At the same time, the decision by so many outfits to field junior drivers reflects how they now value FP1: as much a strategic investment in the future as a rehearsal for Sunday. With in-season testing heavily restricted, fulfilling rookie running requirements and evaluating potential future signings in representative conditions has become a key part of long-term planning.
For fans, Friday’s opening session in Barcelona will look and feel different. The field will still run full-strength machinery, but several of the biggest names will be watching from the garage while some of the sport’s most highly rated prospects take centre stage. What happens in those 60 minutes is unlikely to decide the outcome of the Grand Prix, yet it may shape the grid for seasons to come.
Antonelli, Hamilton, and Hadjar on the podium at the 2026 Monaco F1 Grand Prix. Credit: SOPA Images/IMAGO
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