Lewis Hamilton will not take part in the first practice session ahead of this weekend's French Grand Prix as Mercedes fulfil their obligation to give chances to younger drivers.
Normally, Hamilton would be strapping himself into his Mercedes ready for as much practice time as possible to prepare for the business end of a race weekend. But that will not be the case at the Circuit Paul Ricard, with one of the team's junior drivers sitting in his cockpit instead.
Teams are required to replace one of their regular racers with a 'young driver' for at least two FP1 sessions per season, thanks to a lesser-known rule. Each driver is required to miss one session each to give the younger generation a chance to get behind the wheel of an F1 car.
So instead of seven-time world champion Hamilton, testing the W13 around the track in Friday's first session will be Mercedes junior Nyck de Vries, who won the 2019 F2 and 2021 Formula E titles. "Nyck de Vries will be driving in place of Lewis Hamilton in FP1," said the team.
"Over the course of the season, each driver is required to give up one of their first practice sessions for a young driver. Lewis has selected FP1 in France for his session, and George's will take place later in the season."
Team boss Toto Wolff feels it is an ideal opportunity to test a driver who may one day earn a permanent seat in F1. "Nyck is replacing Lewis in first practice this weekend, as part of the allocated sessions for young drivers this year. So, we're looking forward to seeing how he gets on," he said.
Even without that first practice session, Hamilton has been tipped to do very well at this weekend's French Grand Prix. Mercedes' performance improvements and "bulletproof" reliability have convinced ex-racer Jolyon Palmer that they are "dark horses" to take the victory on Sunday.
And Red Bull chief Christian Horner regards the Silver Arrows as a threat as well. "We'll expect them to be quick at Paul Ricard," he said. "They're showing flashes of being there or thereabouts. The last two races have been pretty decent for them and there's been no sign I think of any porpoising at all, so they seem to be slowly bringing themselves back into the game."
