30/06/2025
NEWS STORY
Alpine has announced an agreement with Stake for the "driving services" of reserve driver Paul Aron.
Aron will take part in two Free Practice 1 sessions with Stake (Sauber) at the British and Hungarian Grands Prix to fulfil the Swiss team's mandatory rookie free practice outing requirement set in the FIA regulations.
The Estonian remains a key member of Alpine as reserve driver as he continues his career development in contemporary machinery.
In addition to the Sauber outings, he will complete the team's three remaining mandatory rookie sessions in 2025, the dates of which will be confirmed in due course.
Since joining the team last December, Aron has been an important asset on the driver-in-loop simulator in both 2025 and 2026 car development work, as well as participating in six days in the 2023-spec A523 car as part of the team's testing of previous cars (TPC) programme.
His first taste in Formula One machinery came in last season's young driver test in Abu Dhabi where he drove the A524 days after he was announced as the team's reserve driver.
"I am very pleased to be given the opportunity to have valuable track time in Formula One," said Aron, "so thanks to BWT Alpine Formula One Team for coming to this arrangement.
"It is no secret that my desire is to one day race full-time in Formula One so any chance to be on track in a competitive environment is an important stepping stone.
"While I continue to focus on my development with Alpine, I do look forward to the two sessions with Stake and giving my maximum effort to them at Silverstone and Budapest."
"It is in our interests to maximise any driving opportunities for our young talent," added Flavio Briatore, "so it is good to have an agreement with Sauber for Paul to drive in free practice in Silverstone and Budapest.
"We are seeing varied success from last year's Formula 2 drivers this year up and down the grid, and Paul was a front runner in that category, so this is an opportunity for him and the team to continue his progress and to give him valuable track time."
The news comes at a time Briatore admits that the team's level of performance is "increasingly concerning", the Italian understood to be far from pleased with Franco Colapinto's efforts thus far.