F1 | Racing Bulls: Iwasa will replace Ricciardo in FP1 at Suzuka

It will be an all-Japanese lineup that will take to the track for Racing Bulls during the first free practice session of next week's Japanese Grand Prix. In fact, alongside Yuki Tsunoda there will not be Daniel Ricciardo, but Ayumu Iwasa, who will climb into the cockpit of his VCARB01 in FP1 of the home race before handing over the wheel to the Australian again for the rest of the weekend.

As for some years now, Formula 1 teams must field a young driver in at least two free practice sessions during the season. Racing Bulls has awarded the first of the two mandatory sessions to the 22-year-old, who is part of the young team which also includes Formula 2 driver Isack Hadjar. Liam Lawson, in fact, no longer falls into that category, having already contested at least two Formula 1 Grands Prix last year.

“I am very happy to be able to participate in an official F1 session in my country and I am thrilled to be able to take the first step towards realizing my dream: winning races and becoming world champion in F1, the most prestigious series in the world. world”, said Iwasa, speaking of the opportunity offered to him of being able to drive a top series car in front of his own audience.

Iwasa made his debut in an F1 car at last November's young driver tests in Abu Dhabi, where he drove for AlphaTauri, the name by which Racing Bulls was previously known. Team principal Laurent Mekies said the Japanese managed to make a good impression on the team at Yas Marina and has since been involved in simulator support work. The FP1 session will therefore also represent a good opportunity to compare the work in virtual reality with the real one on the track.

“He did a great job in the Abu Dhabi test at the end of last year, when he drove for us for the first time. “He has done valuable work in our simulator ever since,” Mekies said.

“This on-track experience will be important for his growth as a young driver, as well as providing him and our engineers with useful on-track feedback on the work he does for us in the simulator.”

Last year, after a good start to the season, there was speculation of Iwasa's possible promotion to Formula 1, but over the course of the season the results did not remain constant, extinguishing his dream of rising to the top flight. This year Iwasa competes in the Japanese national Super Formula series, where he achieved a ninth place in his debut at Suzuka. Iwasa previously won the French Formula 4 championship in 2020, before moving up to Formula 3 and Formula 2.

Ayumu Iwasa, AlphaTauri AT04

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Peter Bayer told Motorsport.com that behind the scenes Racing Bulls, with the support of Red Bull, is continuing to invest in young drivers, so much so that it has stepped up its testing program on older cars, which now allows drivers to test privately the 2022 single-seaters.

“Oscar Piastri is the best example. He traveled I don't know how many hundreds or thousands of kilometres [con Alpine], then he showed up at the track and understood the car. He understood the dynamics, he understood where to act on the steering wheel and this makes a big difference.”

“We have an important program for Liam, Isack and potentially Iwasa, and we want to make sure we race them as much as possible. It's interesting that the historic car [che può essere testata] is a 2022 single-seater, so it is finally a relevant car for the current regulations.”