Mercedes ended up 1-2 in FP1 of F1 Mexico GP with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with Red Bull 3-4 where Max Verstappen was ahead.

With no racing on track for long, it was quite dusty in FP1 of F1 Mexico GP and low grip as well which threw a lot of drivers off track. It actually started with a double Turn 16 moment for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

It was similar spins for both at different laps, as both lost the rear taking the right-hander. Perez suffered a bigger damage to his rear wing than Leclerc. Both managed to make it out before the end of the session for a good number of laps.

At the front, it was the Mercedes F1 duo as Bottas (1m18.341s) edged out Hamilton (1m18.417s) by 0.076s to lead FP1 in Mexico GP. It wasn’t a clean outing for them, as the former had two offs at Turn 12 and Turn 13 on separate laps where he managed to continue on.

For Hamilton, he missed the apex at Turn 1 and did not re-join the track at Turn 2-3 as per the FIA note, which means he will have to see the stewards after the session. Behind the Mercedes duo were the Red Bull couple in third and fourth.

It was Verstappen (1m18.464s) ahead of Perez (1m18.610s), with the latter having an off moment at Turn 12. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m18.985s) slotted in a good fifth from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1m19.463s) with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m19.656s) in seventh.

Alonso was another driver to have an off moment at Turn 12 as did Leclerc (1m19.667s), who ended up eighth after returning to the track. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m19.759s) was ninth with an off moment at Turn 4, as Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (1m19.858s) rounded the Top 10.

The other AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda ended up 11th with a new ICE, TC, MGU-H and MGU-K, which will put him on the back of the grid for the grand prix. It will be same for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who ended up 13th with a new ICE, TC, MGU-H and CE.

Stroll was another driver to have an off at Turn 12. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was 12th and he’s also to see the stewards for not rejoining properly at Turn 2-3 sequence. The McLaren duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris ended up 14th and 15th.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi was 16th from Williams pair of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, while Haas’ Mick Schumacher was 19th and Nikita Mazepin was 20th. The Russian had a moment at Turn 11 as well.

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UPDATE: As expected, both Hamilton and Raikkonen were let off with a reprimand.

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