Max Verstappen to miss Bahrain GP practice as Red Bull confirms replacement

Red Bull has announced that Ayumu Iwasa is to deputise for Max Verstappen in the first practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Report informs via RacingNews365.

Japanese racer Iwasa will take over Verstappen's RB21 for the opening practice session of the Bahrain weekend in the latest announcement of a rookie driver filling in for a regular race driver.

The reason behind this is that FP1 in Bahrain is one of the most unrepresentative sessions of the year as it is held in the day-time with the key sessions of FP2, qualifying and the race all held in the cooler conditions of night.