Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur is still considering the F1 calendar's options when it comes to giving ART F2 charger Théo Pourchaire a pair of FP1 outings this season with the Swiss outfit.
This year, F1 teams are mandated to run a 'young driver' in free practice in at least two race weekends.
But constraints linked to clashes with the Frenchman's FIA Formula 2 Championship schedule and to specific venues that make up the second half of the season mean that Vasseur is struggling to find an FP1 slot for his protégé.
Fortunately, the Hinwil squad only needs to select one track where Pourchaire will appear as Zhou Guanyu's opening FP1 in Bahrain with Alfa counted as a valid rookie session.
©AlfaRomeo
"We were thinking to do Le Castellet with Theo," said Vasseur. "But at Le Castellet they have F2, they changed because of Sochi.
"We have to find a slot at the end of the season. It's not so easy because you don't want to do it in Singapore.
"Japan is tough for a rookie, and it's also tough for the guy whose driving the car who didn't do Japan for the last two seasons.
"You have the sprint races, and you will have probably two or three races where we will have to do the tyre test.
"It means that this you will kill FP2, and that means that it's quite difficult to have a rookie in FP1, and tyre testing in FP2.
"Mexico could work, Austin could work. But they [Pirelli] will have to do the tyre tests. And I think it will be also dependent of the weather."
Vasseur's 'young driver' problem is shared by most team principals as Williams and Red Bull are the only other teams so far to have fielded a 'young driver' in Friday's opening practice.
Mercedes EQ works charger Nyck de Vries ran with Williams in Barcelona while Red Bull handed recently ousted test driver Juri Vips an outing at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner confirmed that Vips' testing and reserve responsibilities have been taken over by Liam Lawson who could enjoy multiple FP1 session with both Red Bull and AlphaTauri.
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