Fred Vesti, a Mercedes prodigy, will make his track debut in the W16 in FP1 at the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix.
Vesti is one of several Mercedes reserve possibilities and serves as the team’s simulator driver, assisting George Russell and Kimi Antonelli with setup work over race weekends.
The Dane, who will compete in the IMSA sportscar championship in 2025, will drive the Mercedes for the first time in person after logging “the most miles of anyone in the W16, albeit all of them virtually,” Mercedes team representative and director of communications Bradley Lord told RacingNews365.
Vesti will replace Russell for FP1 in Sakhir, with the 60-minute session being one of the most unrepresentative of the season for teams and drivers due to the fact that it takes place during the day, whilst FP2, qualifying, and the race all take place after sunset.
New rules for 2025 require each car to be handed over twice per season to a rookie driver with fewer than two grand prix appearances for a young driver FP1 session.
Mercedes has already met this with youngster Antonelli in the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix, therefore Russell will sit out one more FP1 this season to meet his quota.
Vesti previously drove for Mercedes in FP1 at the 2023 Mexico City and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, replacing Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
He also drove for the team in the 2023 and 2024 Abu Dhabi postseason tests.
