Alpine reserve driver gets FP1 chance: Doohan steps aside

Out of the three reserve drivers at their disposal - Franco Colapinto, Paul Aron and Hirakawa -, the Japanese driver will be the first one to drive in a free practice session with Alpine.

Together with Yuki Tsunoda, therefore there will be two drivers from the country on track on Friday.

Hirakawa is very happy to drive in F1 in front of his home crowd. "I'm very excited, I can’t wait to drive the A525 in Free Practice 1 this weekend. I’m looking back to 18 years ago to 2007, the first time I went to watch the Japanese Grand Prix, it was a different track, Fuji, but it was Formula One in Japan," he began in the team's press release.

Hirakawa currently competes for Toyota Gazoo Racing in WEC, and it will not be the first time he will sit behind the steering wheel of an F1 car in practice session or that he replaces an Australian in such way, having driven for McLaren at the Abu Dhabi GP last season in Oscar Piastri's car.

He also drove for Haas in the young drivers test afterwards. In an exclusive article, GPblog could reveal that the American team are interesting in his services as a reserve driver, and a switch can take place if the negotiations are successful after the Japanese GP.

He continued: "Since then, I started my racing career and now to drive during the weekend is going to be a dream come true, I just can’t wait. I have got everything prepared, we did simulator work in Enstone a few days ago and I’m going to enjoy the moment. Hopefully the weather is good, it will be a short session, but I will enjoy it and do my best for the team to hopefully input some direction on set up. I just want to add my appreciation to everyone at the team for the opportunity and support."

Out of the two full-time drivers, it will be Doohan who will step aside for the session. "I’ll be in the car from Free Practice 2 as Ryo drives in Free Practice 1. He has a lot of experience here so it will be good to take some of that knowledge for the weekend. The aim will be to make the most of the weekend and score some all-important points for the team," the rookie said.