F1's 2026 rookie mandate is taking shape. All 11 teams must run a driver with one grand prix or fewer in each car twice this season — four FP1 sessions total — and the grid is already halfway through the requirement. Aston Martin leads the field with three outings for Jak Crawford, while Racing Bulls hit their quota on Arvid Lindblad's side of the garage by round two in China after he raced in Australia.
The American storyline centers on Cadillac, which has deployed Colton Herta in Barcelona and Hungary. Haas, the other US-linked outfit, ran Ryo Hirakawa in Austria and Hungary. Williams tried to get Luke Browning on track in Barcelona but a car problem scrubbed the session; he's since logged runs in Austria and Italy.
With the season past mid-summer, teams still carrying single sessions — Red Bull, Alpine — face tighter scheduling windows as the calendar compresses toward the finale.
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