MEXICO CITY GP – George Russell three tenths faster than Carlos Sainz in first practice, as Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman collide
George Russell was fastest in first practice for this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver set a 17.998 on the soft tyre which put him just over three tenths faster than Carlos Sainz. Russell had gone half a second faster with twenty minutes to go before the Ferrari driver narrowed the gap going second.
Russell was on the pace from the start with a 19.519 on the hard tyre with him improving his time by a second and a half by the end of the session.
Yuki Tsunoda put his RB third just under four tenths behind Sainz as he went nearly a tenth and a half ahead of Max Verstappen. However FP1 was slightly more difficult to read with several teams running junior drivers, but Nico Hulkenberg put his Haas fifth six tenths behind the Red Bull.
There could be concern for Verstappen and Red Bull as the Dutchman was forced to limp back after he reported “no power” with five minutes remaining. Though its likely given the power-sensitive Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez that he was using an older power unit before fitting the one he will use for the rest of the weekend overnight.
If Red Bull needed to take a new power unit he will take a grid penalty, which would give title rival Lando Norris a big opportunity to close the fifty-seven-point gap. Meanwhile, McLaren has protested Norris’s five-second time penalty last weekend in Austin, which dropped him behind Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri put his McLaren sixth just under a quarter of a second behind Verstappen, which could suggest as the weekend goes on, he and his teammate Norris will not be far behind. But Norris sat out FP1 making way for junior driver Pato O’Ward, as he goes into the weekend looking to chip away at Verstappen’s championship lead.
Piastri believed that his McLaren felt ‘pretty terrible’ during his soft-tyre runs and subsequently put together a longer hard-tyre stint to gather further data.
However, the session saw two red flags, after a piece of debris fell of Sainz’s Ferrari, but the second cost a quarter of a session following a collision between Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman. As Albon continued his hot lap he caught Bearman at Turn Nine, as the Williams driver continued he got a snap of oversteer sending him into the side of Bearman, it looks as if both drivers got distracted by each other.
Albon called Bearman an “idiot” over the team radio after the Williams, on a flying lap, came across the Ferrari on a slow lap on the racing line. The Ferrari engineers told Bearman over the radio that it was their fault, presumably for not warning him early enough of Albon’s presence.
Esteban Ocon put his Alpine seventh, nearly four hundred behind Piastri as he went just over half a tenth ahead of Valtteri Bottas. While Liam Lawson was ninth going just a thousandth faster than Sergio Perez.
Friday practice sessions look harder to read as several rookies ran in FP1 while an extended FP2 session later in the day will feature a Pirelli tyre test for the first half an hour. Franco Colapinto put his Williams eleventh, the Argentine missing out on the top ten by just under a tenth as he had a similar gap to Kimi Antonelli.
McLaren IndyCar driver O’Ward was thirteenth four hundredths behind the Mercedes, as he tested a new floor during the second half of the session. Fernando Alonso started his four-hundredth race weekend by handing his Aston Martin to Felipe Drugovich who was eighteenth.
Kevin Magnussen was fourteenth going five thousandths faster than Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon. While young drivers completed the remainder of the field, Drugovich going just over a tenth and a half ahead of Robert Shwartzman, while the collision with Albon left Bearman last.
Williams faces a race to get their car ready for second practice later on Friday, where the session has been extended to 90 minutes so Pirelli can test tyres for next year.