Max Verstappen’s Mexico City Grand Prix weekend will start an hour late.

Red Bull are handing the RB22 to Japanese junior Ayumu Iwasa for Free Practice 1 on Friday 30 October, with Verstappen only climbing in for FP2 later that afternoon. The opening session gets under way at 12:30pm local time at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

The swap is a regulatory one. Teams must give rookies, defined as drivers with two or fewer race starts, at least four FP1 outings across a season, split evenly between the two contracted drivers. Iwasa, who has spent three years as Red Bull’s reserve, has already run the RB22 in Barcelona and Monza this year, with a further FP1 in the Racing Bulls car in Austria.

“I’m really excited to jump into the RB22 again in Mexico this weekend,” Iwasa said ahead of the weekend.

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Antonelli needs ninth or better

Kimi Antonelli arrives in Mexico City 123 points clear of his Mercedes teammate George Russell with 125 still on the table, according to GPFans. The 20-year-old Italian will clinch the drivers’ title at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez if he finishes ninth or better on Sunday, whatever Russell does.

Verstappen is fourth in the drivers’ standings on 236 points, mathematically out of title contention, after finishing third behind Antonelli and Charles Leclerc at the US Grand Prix in Austin last Sunday.

Losing an FP1 at Mexico is not a trivial setback. The thin air at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez forces teams to run their highest-downforce bodywork of the season and pushes cooling to its limits, and the famously slippery Friday surface is exactly why so many teams, Red Bull included, slot their rookie running in here.

Lights out for the 71-lap race is at 2pm local time on Sunday 1 November.

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