2024 F1 reserve drivers: the hopefuls on standby for each GP team

Not a single new driver joined the grid in 2024, which means the ranks of F1 reserve drivers are swelling with young talent, just waiting for their chance to prove themselves in the F1 arena.

Most have typically burned brightly in Formula 2, some winning the championship, but they then take their seat on the substitute bench, their single-seater career often on pause, as they hold out for an opportunity, sometimes for year after year.

That chance can come out of the blue — as Oliver Bearman found out at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix — where Carlos Sainz has been ruled out with a case of appendicitis. The F2 driver, who won four times last season and has since been on duty as Ferrari’s reserve driver, impressed vastly with a seventh-place finish and was quickly snapped up by Haas, who offered the Briton a 2025 race seat.

Others awaiting a moment in the spotlight include the last two F2 champions Theo Pourchaire and Felipe Drugovich , along with 2022 runner-up Robert Schwartzman.

2024 F1 reserve drivers

Click on a team name for more details

As well as attending races, reserve drivers will assist with simulator work — testing new components or set-up options. They are also at the front of the queue to get a taste of F1 machinery in the two free practice sessions that teams must offer to younger drivers each year

Should illness, injury or even a team dispute sideline one of the race drivers then, as with Bearman, the team’s reserve driver is suddenly thrust into the spotlight with sometimes just one race to make an impact. Nyck de Vries impressed so much for Williams at Monza in 2022 that AlphaTauri offered him a contract for the following season — although that didn’t quite work out as planned. In 2023, Liam Lawson burnished his credentials with assured drives when Daniel Ricciardo was sidelined with a broken hand, and has returned to replace the Aussie in 2024 from the US Grand Prix onwards.

An F1 reserve driver’s duties can also vary from team to team: some called in as a ‘super-sub’ from other categories such as IndyCar or the World Endurance Championship, while others travel and work with the team more frequently, with regular simulator sessions. Customer teams such as Haas or Williams have the option of borrowing reserve drivers from suppliers such as Ferrari and Mercedes — allowing some drivers to have more chances than others at an F1 debut.

With that in mind, below are details of all the reserve drivers confirmed as an option for the 2024 F1 season.

Red Bull

Reserve driver: Liam Lawson

With a prestigious driver academy at its disposal, Red Bull has many options when it comes to its 2023 reserve drivers. But the first name on the list of replacements should either Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez be unable to race is undoubtably Liam Lawson.

The Kiwi throughly impressed during his first F1 outings with AlphaTauri last year, replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo from Zandvoort to Qatar. Lawson consistently beat temporary team-mate Yuki Tsunoda during qualifying and on race day and even scored points in Singapore. However, the team stuck with the same line-up for 2024, leaving Lawson back in his reserve driver role — until the US Grand Prix.

With Ricciardo continuing to underperform, Lawson was elected to replace the Aussie for the rest of the 2024 season and turned heads immediately with a ninth-place finish at COTA. But even now as a full-time driver at RB, Lawson would likely be called up to Red Bull should Verstappen or Perez be unable to race.

Mercedes

Reserve drivers: Mick Schumacher, Frederik Vesti 

There are no guarantees that a reserve role will lead to a race seat, and that’s clear in the case of Mick Schumacher who, after being dropped by Haas, took the back-up role for Mercedes. It could have been perfect timing, given Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari at the end of the season but, as of now, Schumacher does not appear to be in the frame to fill the seat.

However, with more than half of drivers coming to the end of their contracts in 2024, there could be vacancies elsewhere. Schumacher has already made an impact with impressive simulator work which has translated into on-track success — Lewis Hamilton and George Russell paying tribute to the German after a double podium finish in Spain.

Schumacher also pieced together some impressive performances during his first two F1 campaigns, where he picked up points in Britain and Austria. In addition to his Mercedes role, he signed to race Alpine’s Hypercar in the 2023 World Endurance Championship, which included an entry into the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Schumacher is sharing reserve duties with Frederik Vesti, last year’s runner-up in the F2 series, who recently signed on to race with Whelen Cadilac V Series.R in IMSA for 2025.

He has already driven in an F1 practice session, for Mercedes, at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Ferrari

Reserve driver: Oliver Bearman, Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Shwartzman

After an impressive F2 campaign and two FP1 outings with Haas in 2023, Oliver Bearman joined the list of Ferrari F1 reserve drivers and was on duty in Jeddah when Carlos Sainz was diagnosed with a case of appendicitis. The 18-year-old arguably exceeded all expectations, as he qualified eleventh and finished seventh on one of F1’s most demanding circuits.

The young Briton is also competing in his second F2 season with Prema this year, alongside Mercedes junior driver Kimi Antonelli. Despite the team’s struggle for performance, Bearman has still managed to secure a pole position in Jeddah — which he was later forced to give up when reserve duty called for Ferrari — as well as sprint race wins in Austria and Monza.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur spoke of the need to “prepare him for the future” as a Ferrari F1 prospect, which has resulted in six FP1 outings for Bearman across 2024.

Bearman is joined by long-term Ferrari reserve and test driver Robert Shwartzman and former Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi. The latter has also posed a prominent figure as part of Ferrari’s Hypercar programme and had been in consideration for a drive at Haas before a crash during practice at the US GP may have quashed his chances,

Aston Martin

Reserve drivers: Felipe Drugovich

After setting up its own young driver programme in 2023, Aston Martin hired the services of reigning F2 champion Felipe Drugovich to fill its reserve driver spot.

The young Brazilian enjoyed a dominant campaign in 2022, claiming feature race wins in Jeddah, Barcelona, Monaco and Zandvoort — allowing him to wrap up the F2 title in Monza with a race to spare. His consistent performance throughout the season put him on the radar of most F1 teams but with very few spaces, Drugovich was limited to the sidelines — attending races throughout the year to gain experience, as well as compete in FP1 sessions — while Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll enjoy the team’s resurgent performance in 2023.

Although his first outing at the 2023 Italian GP did little to impress, Drugovich found incredible pace during the first practice session of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend, as he finished second in the overall standings, just 0.228s off the pace set by Mercedes’ George Russell.

More impressive performances like that in 2024 could land him in the radar of many teams moving forward, with seats at RB and Sauber still available for 2025.

McLaren

Reserve drivers: Ryo Hirakawa and Pato O’Ward

McLaren have chosen to adopt a fresh reserve driver line-up for 2024, composed of IndyCar star Pato O’Ward and Le Mans winner Ryo Hirakawa.

As an engine customer to Mercedes — an agreement has recently been extended until 2030 — the Woking marque have often utilised reserve drivers from other teams instead of employing their own. In 2023, Mick Schuamcher and Felipe Drugovich were on standby. But in an effort to make it a more standalone outfit, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has chosen to look further afield than many other teams on the grid, in the hope of showing that F1 talent lies on the other side of the Atlantic too.

O’Ward, who has completed several test sessions for the team and made his FP1 debut at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, is already a well-accomplished driver in IndyCar having finished fourth or better in the series three times in the last four years. Similarly, Hirakawa joins McLaren off the back of brilliant WEC campaigns with Toyota in 2022 and 2023 — finishing at the top of the drivers’ and constructors’ standings on both occassions. The Japanese driver has limited experience in a F1 car, but McLaren have confirmed that Hirakawa will complete laps in the team’s 2021-spec MCL35M as part of a testing programme as well as completing simulator work. He will also continue to race for Toyota’s WEC team too.

Alpine

Reserve driver: Jack Doohan

Following the controversial departure of Oscar Piastri in 2022, Jack Doohan was the named reserve driver for Alpine in 2023 and has continued in the role for 2024.

Although he may have been outshone by the likes of Felipe Drugovich in 2022 and Theo Pourchaire in 2023, Doohan’s progress throughout his F2 campaign has begun to turn heads — picking up feature race wins in Hungary and Belgium.

With Esteban Ocon announcing his departure to Haas for 2025, Doohan likely faced stiff competition in securing a full-time race seat for 2025. But team principal Oliver Oakes was assured that partnering the Aussie with Pierre Gasly for next season would give the Enstone outfit the best chance of moving back to the front of the midfield.

Visa Cash App RB

Reserve drivers: Liam Lawson

Under the rule of Red Bull, Visa Cash App RB (formerly AlphaTauri) are made to be flexible when it comes to its reserve drivers. While there are no official reserve drivers listed, the team are given the luxury of picking from a large pool of talented Red Bull juniors.

Liam Lawson was at the top of the list, but since he’s now in a full-time seat for the Faenza outfit, it’s likely that if he or team-mate Yuki Tsunoda were unable race, reserve duties would likely fall to F2 title contender Isack Hadjar.

The Frenchman has already completed several FP1 outings for both Red Bull and RB and has been highlighted as a potential contender for F1 race seats by Helmut Marko. But Hadjar could face competition from the likes of Ayumu Iwasa and Jak Crawford — the latter having competed in two FP1 sessions in 2023.

Alfa Romeo

Reserve drivers: Theo Pourchaire, Zane Maloney

Theo Pourchaire followed an impressive F2 campaign in 2022 — finishing second in the title standings — with further progress in 2023: winning the championship by 11 points over Frederik Vesti. As a member of the Sauber Academy since 2019, the talented Frenchman has been on the F1 radar for some time, but after Zhou Guanyu had his contract extended into 2024, Pourchaire has been forced to wait at least another year before a chance at a full-time F1 seat.

He will be sharing duties with Zane Maloney. The Barbados-born 20-year-old joined the Sauber Academy for 2024, having been named 2022 rookie of the year in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, having finished second in the standings in his debut season. He moved on to Formula 2 last year, claiming four podiums with Rodin Carlin in his rookie season before winning the season-opening sprint and feature race in Bahrain in 2024.

Williams

Reserve drivers: Franco Colapinto

As a customer team of Mercedes, Williams does not often employ its own reserve driver — instead utilising the Silver Arrows pool of young talent. In 2022, it was able to call on the talents of Nyck de Vries or Stoffel Vandoorne — utilising the former in Monza after Alex Albon underwent surgery for appendicitis.

But midway through the 2024 season, the Grove outfit decided to bet on one of its own drivers: Franco Colapinto.

The Argentine driver has been a Williams junior driver since January 2023, and impressed team prinicipal James Vowles during an FP1 outing at the 2024 British Grand Prix. Four races later, he was called upon to replace a struggling Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the season — and has impressed vastly ever since.

Colapinto finished 12th on debut at Monza, then eighth in Azerbaijan, eleventh in Singapore and tenth in the US.

He was never listed as the teams official reserve driver, but will continue to race for Williams until Carlos Sainz joins from Ferrari in 2025. But should he or his temporary team-mate be unable to race, Vowles could call on the talents of Zak O’Sullivan (a fellow Williams junior) or either Mercedes reserve.

Haas

Reserve drivers: Pietro Fittipaldi and Oliver Bearman

For the past three seasons, Haas has employed Pietro Fittipaldi as its reserve driver — the young Brazilian and grandson of two-time F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi making FP1 appearances in Mexico and Abu Dhabi last year. His contract was extended for 2024, but Haas remains hesitant to promote him into a full-time seat — choosing experience over youth in his current driver line-up.

Fittipaldi will be joined by Ferrari reserve driver Oliver Bearman, who will get at least six FP1 outings across the 2024 F1 campaign for Haas.