Max Verstappen will give up his Red Bull for first practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, and Ayumu Iwasa will drive it instead. The session starts at 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday, October 30, at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Red Bull is using the swap to meet the mandatory rookie running quota.
Iwasa, a Japanese driver who has served as Red Bull’s third driver for three years, is eager to get back in the car. “I’m really excited to jump into the RB22 again in Mexico this weekend,” Iwasa said in Red Bull’s Mexico City preview, published by Pitpass. It will be his second run at this track, after he drove for Racing Bulls here last year.
Why Max Verstappen Gives Up His Seat in First Practice
The rule is simple. Each team must give rookies, defined as drivers with two or fewer races, at least four practice outings a season, so every regular driver sits out twice. Iwasa fits the definition.
He has already logged plenty of Friday mornings this year. He drove the RB22 in first practice at Barcelona and Monza, then took the Racing Bulls car in Austria, which makes Mexico his eighth first-practice outing overall. He also won the 2025 Super Formula title.
Iwasa isn’t the only young driver getting a turn. Frederik Vesti takes the Mercedes in place of George Russell. On Sunday, Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli can clinch the championship with a ninth-place finish or better.
Max Verstappen Arrives in Mexico After a Frustrating Austin Weekend
Verstappen comes off a messy United States Grand Prix. He finished third at the Circuit of the Americas, behind Antonelli and Charles Leclerc, and suffered another radio dropout. “Maybe we just start communicating in sign language,” Verstappen told reporters in the post-race press conference.
He wasn’t happy with the strategy either. Verstappen said Red Bull’s two-stop plan hadn’t been agreed beforehand. Asked whether the team got the most from its weekend, Verstappen said: “Today we didn’t maximise much. The issues, of course, don’t help, but I think also the strategy that we did with the tyre choices that we made, yeah, they were just not good.”
The standings show where he stands. Verstappen sits fourth on 236 points, 129 behind Antonelli with 125 still available, so the title is out of reach. Red Bull holds third in the constructors’ standings, level with McLaren on 355 points.
Mexico City has been kind to him. He has won here five times, matching his totals at the Red Bull Ring and Yas Marina, and his last three wins came by at least 13 seconds. Now he watches someone else take the first laps.
Iwasa gets the hour, and Red Bull gets its first read on the RB22 at an altitude of more than 2,200 meters. Verstappen returns for second practice at 4 PM local time, and he’ll have two sessions behind the wheel before qualifying starts at 3 PM Saturday.
More F1 Reading
- Kimi Antonelli Reveals His 2027 F1 Number Plan if He Wins the Championship
- Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman Says F1 Engineering Beats NASA: ‘They Smoke Us’
- Mercedes Set to Shell Out $11 Million as Kimi Antonelli Prepares to Bag F1 Championship at Mexico GP
- “He Wants Her Back”: Fans Speculate After Lando Norris’ Instagram Slip-Up on Ex-Girlfriend’s Birthday
Comments
More in News
Kimi Antonelli Reveals His 2027 F1 Number Plan if He Wins the Championship
Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman Says F1 Engineering Beats NASA: ‘They Smoke Us’
Mercedes Set to Shell Out $11 Million as Kimi Antonelli Prepares to Bag F1 Championship at Mexico GP
“He Wants Her Back”: Fans Speculate After Lando Norris’ Instagram Slip-Up on Ex-Girlfriend’s Birthday
