Vesti makes F1 debut in Mercedes during FP1 in Mexico

Dane Frederik Vesti will make his first appearance in a Grand Prix weekend this year. The Mercedes team announced that their junior driver may drive the first free practice session for the Mexico GP. Vesti has driven F1 cars before, but the Dane has never participated in an official session.

F2 leader vying for F1 seat

Vesti is currently driving in Formula 2 with the Prema team and has been part of the Mercedes family for several years as a junior driver. He is looking forward to his first free practice: "I'm incredibly proud to be doing the FP1 session in Mexico City with the team - it's a dream come true. To think in less than two months that I'll be doing my first official Formula One session with Mercedes. This has been my dream since I was very young, and it's something I've been fighting for throughout my whole junior career." Incidentally, this is not the first time the young Dane has taken a seat in a Mercedes F1 car. In late 2022, he also drove the young driver test in Abu Dhabi for the German team.

Formula 1 introduced a plan in 2022 to give young drivers more opportunities in the sport. From that year, for instance, it stipulated that every team must use an inexperienced driver for at least two free practice sessions a year. Therefore, Vesti will be allocated to at least one free practice session this year at Mercedes'.