The Formula 1 world is encountering a shortage of reserve drivers for the upcoming race weekend in Baku.
Kevin Magnussen is absent from the Azerbaijan event as he undergoes a contentious one-race suspension due to the accumulation of 12 penalty points on his super license.
Nico Hulkenberg, his teammate at Haas, vocally supported the missing Danish driver on Thursday, arguing that race officials are overly swift in penalizing drivers for minor infractions. "Most drivers think the same way," the German asserted.
Contrarily, George Russell, director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), contends that Magnussen was actually often "not punished hard enough" for previous incidents and emphasizes that F1 drivers need to "set an example for the junior categories."
Regardless of the drivers' perspectives, the current predicament has necessitated moving Ferrari's reserve driver, Oliver Bearman, from the sidelines into the Haas team's lineup.
However, concerns arise if a Ferrari driver encounters issues during Baku practice, potentially requiring Bearman's return to the Ferrari team.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu acknowledges this as a challenging scenario.
"It's the WEC weekend," the Japanese engineer explained.
"We have access to Ferrari's reserves, but drivers like Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Shwartzman are in Japan. Other reserve drivers are there as well."
"Our second reserve is Pietro (Fittipaldi), but he is doing the season finale in Indycar," Komatsu further mentioned.
"Fortunately, we have agreed to share Fred with Mercedes," he added.
'Fred' refers to Frederik Vesti, a Danish reserve driver for Mercedes, who is also available for Mercedes-affiliated teams McLaren and Williams during this weekend.
"In the worst case scenario, we're going to run out of reserve drivers," Komatsu remarked with a smile. "But that is very, very unlikely."
