Ryo Hirakawa will step into the cockpit for Haas in Free Practice 1 at the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix, deputising for Esteban Ocon at the Red Bull Ring. The session marks the Japanese driver's first Formula 1 outing of the 2026 season and his seventh FP1 appearance overall in the sport's top tier.
A Familiar Role, A Fresh Stage
Hirakawa is no stranger to the mandatory rookie session framework that governs F1's approach to developing reserve and junior talent. He completed all four of Haas's compulsory FP1 outings across the 2025 season, adding a fifth appearance for Alpine at their home race in Japan - a run that established him as one of the more experienced reserve drivers operating within the system. The Red Bull Ring assignment now marks his first competitive running of 2026, and it arrives with a degree of continuity: he will drive Ocon's VF-26, slotting in alongside Oliver Bearman, who holds his regular race seat. For those whose interests stretch well beyond motorsport - much like fans who might find themselves drawn to something as niche as starcraft: brood war gambling - the appeal of watching a specialist operate in a highly technical environment will resonate in its own way. Hirakawa's Le Mans pedigree, having won the 24 Hours in 2022, speaks to his credentials as a complete racing driver rather than a straightforward F1 reserve filling a regulatory requirement.
The Broader FP1 Picture in Austria
Hirakawa will not be alone in making his presence felt during Friday's opening session. Paul Aron is set to run for Audi, Luke Browning will take a Williams seat, and Jak Crawford lines up for Aston Martin - a quartet of non-race drivers who collectively reflect just how many teams are managing their FP1 obligations simultaneously at a single event. The cluster of appearances underlines how the mandatory session rules, designed to give young and reserve drivers meaningful track time, can produce a notably different competitive picture in FP1 compared with the rest of the weekend.
Hirakawa's F1 Journey So Far
The Austrian GP session will be Hirakawa's seventh FP1 outing in Formula 1. His most high-profile appearance to date came with McLaren at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, giving him a taste of life at the front of the grid before he became a fixture in Haas's development structure. That breadth of exposure - across McLaren, Alpine, and now Haas - is relatively unusual for a driver outside the conventional F1 ladder, and it reinforces his standing as a trusted, versatile asset for teams navigating their regulatory commitments. Whether Friday's session translates into anything beyond a data-gathering exercise for the Haas engineers will depend largely on how competitive the VF-26 feels in his hands around the quick, flowing corners of the Red Bull Ring.
