Damon Hill tells F1 fans to ‘look out’ after three-time junior champ confirmed for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP1

Damon Hill believes Formula 1 fans should be on the lookout for a driver linked to Williams at the upcoming Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.

The Abu Dhabi GP will be the final time that teams will be able to conform to the rule laid out in the F1 Sporting Regulations, which dictates that teams must run at least one rookie in their car during an FP1 session.

The ‘rookie’ in question must have not competed in more than two Formula 1 races, so 2025 Haas driver Oliver Bearman will be ineligible for the seat time as would Williams’ Franco Colapinto.

Several teams have yet to make use of this part of the rules, with Ferrari recently doing so at the Mexico GP with Bearman (prior to his third start in Brazil) and Mercedes with Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Williams has also yet to run another driver for this year having run Colapinto in FP1 at Silverstone, which James Vowles said eventually led to his drive replacing Logan Sargeant.

Having announced who they will be running in Abu Dhabi, Hill thinks this driver could be one to watch in the future when speaking on Instagram Stories.

Damon Hill says F1 fans should keep an eye on Luke Browning

Taking to his Instagram stories account, Hill issued a simple message to F1 fans along with sharing a recent post by Williams showing the announcement regarding F2 racer Luke Browning.

“Look out for Luke,” wrote Hill on his Instagram Stories post, in what appeared to be an endorsement for the 22-year-old British driver.

Williams has announced that it will be running Browning in their car for the FP1 session in Abu Dhabi, which will be his F1 weekend debut.

Browning is also set to take part in the post-season test with Williams, coming off the back of a strong F3 season in which he took two poles in Austria and Great Britain as well as two Feature Race victories in Bahrain and Austria.

He would go on to take part in F2 with ART during the Azerbaijan GP weekend, and will continue at Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Browning has previously won titles in GB3 and British F4.

Teams confirm plans for FP1 outings in Abu Dhabi

Along with Williams, other teams have also confirmed their plans for Abu Dhabi as they are required to run one more driver before the end of the season.

Ferrari must run another driver now that Bearman is unavailable and that could be Robert Shwartzman, while McLaren and Red Bull have yet to confirm their plans.

F2 frontrunner Isack Hadjar is potentially available for Red Bull, while McLaren could run Pato O’Ward again considering he is their test/reserve driver.

Aston Martin will run American Jak Crawford in their car, having previously let him run earlier in the season in a test at the Red Bull Ring.