F1 Team Announce Shock Driver Swap for Italian Grand Prix
An F1 team have made a driver change ahead of the upcoming Italian Grand Prix.
The Northern Italian city of Monza plays host to the Pirelli Italian Grand Prix this coming weekend as Oscar Piastri looks to further extend his current 34-point advantage over McLaren teammate Lando Norris at the top of the 2025 Drivers’ Standings.
Meanwhile, current F1 champion and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is third in the standings ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Aside from McLaren, not many teams will be overly pleased with their 2025 performances.
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Red Bull are in transition following the departure of their now-former long-term principal Christian Horner, who was sacked back in July.
Verstappen and Liam Lawson started as Red Bull’s designated drivers before the latter was demoted to Racing Bulls and replaced by Yuki Tsunoda after just two races.
However, Tsunoda has failed to impress and sits 19th out of 21 drivers in the standings, while Lawson is 15th.
Although Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar has performed well and sits tenth in the standings after 15 race weeks.
And one team will look slightly different in Italy.
Alpine F1 have confirmed that Paul Aron will be in the cockpit for the opening practice session of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old Estonian driver, who serves as a reserve for the team after finishing third in the 2024 Formula 2 championship, has already taken part in two practice sessions this season with Kick Sauber at Silverstone and Budapest.
The youngster will replace Franco Colapinto for practice on September 5.
22-year-old Colapinto has struggled so far this term and, like his predecessor Jack Doohan, has failed to register a single point.
Fellow Alpine driver Pierre Gasly is 14th in the standings with 20 points.
Aron spoke once the news was announced and promised to “use this to have an enjoyable and productive session for both me and the team”.
"I'm looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the A525 for my first grand prix weekend appearance with the team in Monza," Aron said.
"I've got to know everyone really well since I joined at the end of last year as test and reserve driver, and appreciate the trust the team has given me to drive in Friday's Free Practice 1.”
Practice one gets underway at 12:30 pm on Friday, before practice 2 commences at around 4 pm.
Practice 3 takes place on Saturday before qualifying begins later in the day.
The Grand Prix starts at 2 pm on Sunday.
Topics: Formula 1
Luke Davies