Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris are among the leading F1 names who will not take part in the first practice session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
I agree, I hesitated to edit the headline (something along the lines of "List of rookies taking part to Abu Dhabi GP FP1") as I don't know if it is allowed on /c/formula1
The teams will put someone into the cockpits who actually helps the team, like a development driver or a sim driver or a F2 driver that may join said F1 team in 1-2 years. McLaren is the exception with O'Ward.
At the moment there are no women in that strategic position.
Yeah, I was hoping that Aston would give Jessica Hawkins a run after the announcement of her being their latest test driver, but they elected not to.
I hope we will see more opportunities for female drivers with them being part of F1 teams starting next season. At least that's what Danica Patrick has been asking for.