Alpine reserve driver Paul Aron’s FP1 outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix means another feather in his cap in experiencing something nobody else has in Formula 1 this year.

When he heads out of the pits on Friday, he will become the first driver, off the back of the two sessions he did for Audi earlier this year at Barcelona and the Red Bull Ring, to have tasted two totally different 2026 cars and power units on F1 weekends. Ayumu Iwasa has driven a Red Bull and Racing Bulls this season, but they have the same engine.

Aron’s double strike is the latest example of him being an experienced head on young shoulders - as he is arguably F1’s most diversely experienced FP1 rookie.

Having notched up around 10,000km of testing so far in F1 since a first run for Alpine in the post-Abu Dhabi rookie test in 2024, there has been no shortage of variety for him.

He’s driven a 2023, 2024 and 2025 Alpine-Renault, a 2025 Sauber-Ferrari, a 2026 Audi and, this weekend, adds the current Alpine-Mercedes to his roster.

It’s an impressive tally of different machinery and engines for someone who isn’t full time competing.

“I think it's clearly fair to say that, as a non-full-time F1 driver, I'm the most experienced on the grid,” he tells The Race in an exclusive interview.

“I've never really heard of reserve drivers, especially in this era, who have been able to drive two different cars over two different years and with two different teams.

“And with all the testing I’ve done with Alpine I don't feel like a rookie anymore."

Wanting more

While all this testing experience is good for his CV, Aron knows that his mission is not to just get as much mileage as possible: it’s to be out there racing on Sundays.

He needs no reminding that some of his former rivals – including those he has finished ahead of in F2 in 2024 like Kimi Antonelli, Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman – have all moved up to F1 race seats while he is still waiting for that first opportunity.

“I grew up loving to race, and I came into this sport because I wanted to be racing against the best of the world at the top of motorsport,” he said.

“I didn't come into this world to sit behind a computer screen weekend after weekend listening and watching. I think it's as simple as that.

“I've got so much mileage with testing now. I'm so well prepared. I just feel like I need an outlet to show that.

“For that you need to be in the car, and these FP1s give you that possibility. In Barcelona we nailed it, but it’s only over a full race weekend where you can build up your weekend and really show what you can do.”

That reference to Barcelona relates to that very impressive Friday performance for Audi in Spain that strangely went a bit below the radar.

Aron ended up sixth quickest in FP1 in Barcelona, having been on a similar run programme to team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto.

While Bortoleto’s time deficit of nearly one second at the end was not fully representative, as the Brazilian was not in a happy place with his car set-up in a happy place straight away, that takes nothing away from what Aron did that day.

As Audi racing director Allan McNish said after Aron’s performances for the squad in Barcelona and Austria: “He got in, delivered, did the job, was quick, was clean was tidy.

“He delivered in every way. Also his feedback was very good. We are so very pleased with him.”

Audi F1 CEO and team boss Mattia Binotto said of Aron's FP1: "He has proved that he's a capable driver.

"He's a fast driver. He never tested that car on track. Immediately fast since the very first lap, the very first run.

"So, well deserved from him. Happy that somehow he could show what he's capable of, because at the end he's a great driver". 

Showing off your best

Despite Barcelona being yet another occasion where Aron has shone for his bosses, he well knows that, for a youngster in his position, when you are not racing every weekend, convincing team bosses about what you can offer is complicated.

FP1 outings are not just about bolting on soft tyres and gunning for low fuel quali sims to grab some headlines. 

There is a job to be done in helping the team and engineers prepare for a race weekend.

Insiders say Aron’s performances in TPC running for Alpine over the past few years have impressed those he has worked with – especially considering he has often been up against some talented other youngsters including Colapinto, Jack Doohan, Alex Dunne and Ugo Ugochukwu.

That Aron has come through every time for Alpine, and remains a central part of the squad, says an awful lot about what the bosses see in him.

The strong pace he shows in testing is something that is hard for the outside world to understand though – especially because timing sheets do not always tell the full story even on race weekends.

Engine modes, fuel levels and tyres have such a big influence on the final outcome – whether that be testing or FP1s.

In Barcelona, everything clicked perfectly to deliver that P6, while in Austria the final time was influenced by deployment strategy and red flag interruptions – things outside his control.  It’s not always easy to make a brilliant impression.

“Those FP1s are judged very bluntly,” he said. “No one really looks into the details; they just look at the laptime.”

A classic example of details not being obvious to the outside world is Aron’s first ever F1 outing at the 2024 post-Abu Dhabi GP rookie test.

Aron had just cracked open his first beer at the F2 prize-giving ceremony – he had finished third in the standings behind Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar – when he got a call from Alpine saying he needed to be at the track at 8am the following morning to prepare for the rookie test.

He put the beer down; went back to his hotel and the next morning he reported for duty in the Alpine pits. At that point he had never held an F1 steering wheel in his hands, let alone even been in the simulator.

Aron completed that rookie test and ended up just seven hundredths of a second slower than Doohan in the other car – which seemed impressive already considering the exceptional circumstances of effectively being thrown in at the deep end.

But what the timing sheets did not show was that Aron had been on a super quick run at the end of the day that did not get seen through to the end. 

He was two tenths up on his best time when a red flag came out – meaning he had to abort.

Being there for yourself

Aron admits that in the past he had perhaps not fully understood how perceptions of a good job done inside the team do not necessarily travel easily to those outside.

It is why he has been a bit more aggressive with his approach to FP1s this year,

“When I first did these FP1s last year, I was very conservative on the driving,” he said.

“I just wanted to make sure that I get the job done for the team and I keep the car intact and so on.

“But I very quickly realised that once the session's done, no one cares that you were conservative. Suddenly everyone's comparing your laptime. And I learned that very quickly.

“So, I learned that you do have to get the run plan done, and you do have to do what the team wants you to do.

“But you also need to be there for yourself, and you need to push, and you need to show what you can do because the moment that laptime is on the board, everyone is comparing it.

“I think that was a bit of a 'welcome to F1' moment for me, where I think, in the beginning I was very blue-eyed, thinking that I'll do the run plan, give the team the info, keep the car safe, and finish the session.

“But then everyone's comparing the lap time! So, I realised that next time I need to push more.”

Getting the message out about strong performances isn’t simple.

Not every driver can follow the George Russell example and take PowerPoint presentations to team bosses in the hopes of getting a job.

Similarly rival teams never get to see a good job done on the simulator, nor the willingness to jump in at every opportunity.

They also do not get to witness the appreciation of Alpine factory floor staff in some departments who say that Aron is the only driver they have seen come down and visit them.

There are so many aspects of shining for a team that do not get out.

Aron accepts that part of the job of a young driver these days is being a salesman for your own talents, because F1 teams are not charities in freely giving out race seats. 

Drivers need not only to get themselves a hype train, they also need to be driving it themselves.

“I think one thing I've ultimately learned in F1 is that the hype doesn't come out of nowhere,” he said,

“It comes from the people who create it, and I think, frankly, from my side, I just didn't work on that side enough to create the hype.”

Now is the time to change that as Aron seeks a much-coveted race seat.

His latest Alpine outing is another chance to remind the world about just what he is capable of, and then make sure everyone knows about it.