FERRARI have confirmed Lewis Hamilton will be replaced by his team-mate’s brother for the final race weekend of the Formula One season.
The British racing icon has endured a horror debut year with the Scuderia and looks set to go without a podium in a season for the first time since starting his F1 career in 2007.
And as the season draws to a close in Abu Dhabi the seven-time world champion will be replaced for the opening session of the grand prix weekend this Friday.
F1 regulations in 2025 dictate teams must run rookies – defined as a driver with no more than two grand prix starts – in four FP1 sessions across the season, double the year prior.
And due to these rules, Hamilton is being substituted out of his car for Friday’s Free Practice One session at the Yas Marina circuit to fulfil the team’s mandated rookie slots for the season.
The 40-year-old’s team confirmed that Arthur Leclerc, the younger brother of Hamilton’s team-mate Charles, would take his spot for the session.
Following the Las Vegas Grand Prix Hamilton declared his first year at Ferrari had been his “worst-ever” as he finished a disappointing P8 – but only after McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were disqualified over a plank wear violation.
Hamilton then followed that up in Qatar with a P12 finish at the penultimate race of the 2025 season.
Leclerc’s appearance is a repeat of the same race a year ago, when the Leclerc siblings became the first two brothers to compete together as team-mates in an F1 session.
Former F2 star Leclerc finished 18th in FP1 last year before taking part in the young driver test after the race weekend.
He has been a development driver for the team across the last two seasons.
The 25-year-old is the third rookie to drive for Ferrari in FP1 this season, following Dino Beganovic and Antonio Fuoco.
A total of nine drivers are being replaced for FP1 on Friday.
Among them is championship contender Piastri, who trails frontrunner Lando Norris by 16 points.
The Australian is being replaced by Pato O’Ward for the session.
Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda will see his final F1 weekend with Red Bull cut one session short as he is replaced by Arvid Lindblad days after it was announced he had been handed a seat with Racing Bulls for next season.
The Lindblad decision has seen Isack Hadjar paired with Max Verstappen at Red Bull for 2026, while Tsunoda has been left without a seat on the newly-expanded 22-driver grid.
British F2 star Luke Browning is also being drafted in at Williams in place of Alex Albon.
Norris leads the drivers’ title race by 12 points ahead of Max Verstappen, who is in turn four ahead of Piastri.
The 26-year-old must finish at least on the podium to confirm his maiden F1 title, even if four-time world champion Verstappen wins the final race of the campaign.
