McLaren announces Oscar Piastri's replacement for the 2025 F1 Abu Dhabi GP FP1

McLaren star Oscar Piastri will miss the FP1 session at the season finale in Abu Dhabi and will make way for IndyCar star & reserve driver Pato O'Ward. The changes come as a result of the F1 rookie test rules, which were updated ahead of the 2025 season.

The rookie test rules before 2025 were for each car to give up one practice session each season for a rookie driver. However, going into the 2025 season, changes were made and mandated the team to put the rookie drivers in for two sessions per car.

Oscar Piastri goes into the final race of the season 16 points behind his teammate after a disastrous McLaren strategy at the Qatar GP took the win away from him. Going into the Abu Dhabi GP, the Australian faces another drawback as he'll have to give up his seat to Pato O'Ward in FP1.

Oscar Piastri first gave up his seat for Alex Dunne at the 2025 Italian GP FP1. Championship leader Lando Norris gave his first and second FP1 session seat away at the Austrian and Mexican GP to O'Ward, and despite being at a disadvantage, won the race.

McLaren reserve has been travelling with the team to every race since the IndyCar season ended. Along with his full-time driver responsibilities for Arrow McLaren, the Mexican driver is also the test/reserve driver for the Woking-based F1 squad.

However, Oscar Piastri will not be the only driver missing the FP1 at the Abu Dhabi GP with Red Bull Racing, Racing Bulls, Williams, Ferrari, Haas and Aston Martin also having to run a rookie driver. Ryo Hirakawa will replace Esteban Ocon, Jak Crawford at Aston Martin replaces Lance Stroll, Luke Browning at Williams, Arvid Lindblad replaces Tsunoda and Ayumu Iwasa to step in for Liam Lawson.

Oscar Piastri ready to ‘give it his all’ at Abu Dhabi amid the title fight

Oscar Piastri went into the Qatar GP 24 points behind Lando Norris. The Australian made up 2 points on his teammate in the sprint race. For the main race, the Australian qualified on pole position and was in the lead of the race before McLaren made a strategic disaster and didn't pit under the safety car.

As a result, Max Verstappen won the race, Piastri finished P2 and Norris ended up P4. Going into the Abu Dhabi GP, Piastri is 16 points behind Norris. Speaking about fighting for the title in the season finale, he said,

“Qatar was one of my strongest weekends in F1. The aim for Abu Dhabi is to replicate that and do everything I can for the race win. I will give it my all and make sure I leave no points on the table in the final race.”

If Oscar Piastri wins the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, Lando Norris will need to finish P6 or lower for the Australian to be crowned as the champion.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi