Charles Leclerc was fastest in first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix; the Ferrari driver set an 18.128, going over six and a half tenths ahead of Kimi Antonelli. Ferrari go into this weekend expected to be the team to beat given their small turbo, which will give them an advantage thanks to the high altitude.
Antonelli was eight hundredths ahead of Mercedes reserve driver Fred Vesti, who replaced George Russell as the two Silver Arrows split the Ferraris. Lewis Hamilton was fourth, a tenth off Vesti, but the seven-time champion looked scruffy on his soft run on a weekend he must win to have a slim chance of a record-breaking eighth title.
Ten rookies replaced the usual full-time drivers in first practice as most teams took advantage of the relative simplicity of the circuit and it not being a Sprint weekend to fulfil a regulation that a rookie must run in both cars at least twice in the season – only Ferrari ran both regular drivers in the session.
Grip appeared to catch both experienced and rookie drivers out around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with Antonelli, who stands on the cusp of his maiden drivers’ title this weekend, sliding his way through the stadium section, as did home hero Sergio Perez.
Hamilton put his Ferrari a quarter of a second ahead of Ayumu Iwasa, who replaced Max Verstappen for FP1. The Japanese driver went ahead of Pierre Gasly by a tenth. The Alpine driver was a tenth and a half ahead of Fernando Alonso, who had a decent showing for Aston Martin, as he went ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Ollie Bearman put his Haas ninth, seven hundredths faster than Arvid Lindblad to complete the top ten. Isack Hadjar missed out as he put his Red Bull six hundredths faster than Nikola Tsolov, after the Frenchman was hampered by power unit issues and didn’t manage any qualifying simulations.
Racing Bulls dismissed speculation earlier in the season that Tsolov, who became the first Bulgarian to take part in an F1 weekend, could replace Liam Lawson next season. But the session was not straightforward for another debutant in practice; Freddie Slater ended up twenty-first after reliability issues limited him to fourteen laps.
The Englishman sent out on track with a sidepod fan still attached to the car, which appeared to cause some damage to the power unit and left him in the pits for a prolonged period. The stewards are set to investigate the unsafe release post-session.
Tsolov was only a tenth off Lindblad, but an issue where he stated blood had stopped flowing in his right leg due to his seat compressing while driving. Nico Hulkenberg was half a hundredth behind as he went over three tenths faster than Gabriele Mini.
Ryo Hirakawa was a quarter of a tenth faster than Carlos Sainz, with the McLaren of Leonardo Fornaroli two tenths further behind. Sergio Perez was four tenths faster than Jak Crawford; Luke Crawford was three quarters of a tenth ahead of Slater. Colton Herta’s Cadillac completed the field.
