Esteban Ocon will take part in the opening free practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix, the Renault reserve driver has announced over Twitter.

The Frenchman, who dovetails his F1 commitment with a DTM campaign at Mercedes this year, already drove in FP1 at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Lotus.

For the second grand prix weekend in a row, Renault will give some valuable track time to one of its junior drivers after new recruit Sergey Sirotkin deputised for Kevin Magnussen in Sochi. The French constructor has yet to confirm who Ocon will replace at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in two weeks' time.

Rumours have recently been swirling about the 2015 GP3 Series winner taking over Jolyon Palmer’s race seat in the light of the British rookie's challenging start to his maiden F1 season.

Renault is also expected to give test driver Nicholas Latifi an FP1 opportunity at some point during the season.

REPORT: Rosberg eases to win after Kvyat takes out Vettel

AS IT HAPPENED: 2016 Russian Grand Prix

Breakfast with ... Martin Brundle

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Vowles warns 2026 weight limit will catch F1 teams out

When F1’s radically redesigned 2026 cars finally roll out in Barcelona at the end of…

7 hours ago

Why Verstappen isn’t expecting much running at F1’s first test

Max Verstappen has never been one to sugar-coat reality – and as Formula 1 braces…

9 hours ago

Revolut’s CMO slams Ferrari: ‘How can you put blue on a red car?’

Ferrari have survived decades of criticism about strategy calls, driver politics and pit stops that…

10 hours ago

Mercedes 2026 advantage in doubt after concerning claim

While the paddock has been whispering for months that Mercedes might be holding the winning…

12 hours ago

Our salute on this day to Big Dan

Dan Gurney passed away on this day in 2018, and here at F1i we'll never…

13 hours ago

Jules Bianchi’s final kart recovered after theft

What began as a painful reminder of loss has ended with a moment of profound…

14 hours ago