With Alpine undecided on who should partner Pierre Gasly at the Formula 1 team next season, Paul Aron's Italian Grand Prix practice appearance was a timely audition.

Aron, an Alpine test and reserve driver, is a contender for a race seat next year should the team not continue longer-term with Franco Colapinto - who replaced Jack Doohan from round seven of the current season.

All three young drivers are still in the frame and can make different cases for inclusion. Aron is arguably the most interesting simply for being the one that least is known about.

That's despite Aron testing for Alpine in Abu Dhabi last year and taking part in two Friday practice sessions this season for Sauber - a slightly unusual arrangement, but a mutually beneficial one as it satisfied Sauber's Friday young driver requirements and gave Aron more track time.

Finally, though, Aron has participated in FP1 for his actual employer. He'll do so at least twice more before the end of the season, and these add up to probably his best chance to stake his claim for a race seat beyond relying on Alpine not having faith in either Colapinto or Doohan.

He made a good, if not completely compelling, initial case at Monza. The downsides were very prominent: half a second slower than regular driver Pierre Gasly, and a spin in the middle of the session.

But some necessary context immediately eases that. Half a second is not at all out of kilter with the bulk of Colapinto's FP1 work this season, for starters, and for a stand-in driver is perfectly reasonable. For reference, Alex Dunne, who was mega-impressive when he made his FP1 debut in Austria and basically matched Oscar Piastri's laptime at McLaren, was six tenths off Lando Norris in the corresponding Monza session.