Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen led the way on Friday in F1 Mexico GP, with FP1 having nine rookies undertaking mandated run as per FIA ruling.
FP1 –
Charles Leclerc finished fastest in Free Practice 1 for the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver heading Kimi Antonelli and Nico Hulkenberg. Leclerc finished just one-tenth faster than Antonelli, with Hulkenberg a further three-tenths back from Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri in fourth. The McLaren driver gained some crucial running on his title rivals Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, who could only watch on from the pit wall.
This was because no fewer than nine rookie drivers were in action during the one-hour session on Friday, with Kick Sauber the only team not to field a junior driver at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez. While all the stand-ins were keen to impress, the likes of Arvid Lindblad (Red Bull) and Paul Aron (Alpine) took to the track with greater emphasis as the possibility of graduating to the championship next season remains within their grasps.
Esteban Ocon’s 1m 20.934s initially left him top of the times as dust was cleared from the circuit in the early stages, with lap times continuing to drop as Isack Hadjar and Antonelli traded top spot between themselves. Piastri became the first driver to dip below the 1m 20s barrier, the Australian setting a 1m 19.035s and the first driver to use the soft tyre after just 25 minutes of action, which left him nearly one second clear of the field initially. Leclerc briefly occupied top spot as proceedings reached the halfway point with a 1m 18.895s, before Piastri and then Antonelli went quicker, the Italian leaving the benchmark as a 1m 18.487s on the red-walled tyres.
Leclerc reasserted himself with the fastest time – a 1m 18.380s – which would finish as the sessions’s best from Antonelli, with Piastri splitting the two Sauber’s of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. Lindblad was the best of the stand-in drivers and finished sixth at the wheel of Max Verstappen’s RB21, just six-tenths behind Leclerc as Red Bull brought a new floor and cooling package to Mexico this weekend.
Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull was eighth behind Ocon, as Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and Alex Albon (Williams) completed the top 10. Hadjar was 11th, the Racing Bulls driver having been forced to reverse out of the Turn 12 run-off area after running deep at one stage, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. From the remaining stand-in drivers, McLaren’s Pato O’Ward led Frederik Vesti (Mercedes) and Aron. The remainder of the order was made up of Ryo Hirakawa (Haas), Ayumu Iwasa (Racing Bulls), Luke Browning (Williams), Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) and Antonio Fuoco, 2.4s behind the other Ferrari of Leclerc.
FP2 –
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen set the pace during second practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Dutchman leading the way from the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. After a total of nine rookies were given an outing during Friday’s first practice hour – which was topped by Leclerc – the drivers that had sat out that session returned to action for FP2, which got underway in warm and dry conditions at 1600 local time.
As all 20 cars peeled out of the pit lane within a few minutes of the green light appearing – the majority sporting medium tyres – there was early trouble for Antonelli when the Mercedes driver reported an issue on his W16, with the initial instruction being to “limp home”. The Italian was able to continue running, before again having to return to the pits as the problem persisted. Antonelli’s team mate George Russell – who was amongst those to miss FP1 – had a wide moment off track during the opening moments, while Leclerc had set the pace in the first quarter of the session. The Ferrari racer went quickest on a lap of 1m 18.353s, just over three-tenths clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris and the other Scuderia car of Lewis Hamilton in second and third respectively.
Following a spell in the garage as the team worked on his car, Antonelli returned to the track to resume his programme. Alex Albon, meanwhile, tapped the wall out of Turn 16 with his Williams as he – and many others in the field – switched to the soft tyre as focus switched to flying laps. As those flying runs came in, Leclerc looked to have held onto P1 by the halfway point of the session, with many of his rivals struggling to get close – but Verstappen proved to be the one to beat the Monegasque’s time by 0.153s after pumping in an effort of 1m 17.392s.
Hamilton had looked on course for a quick time, having matched Verstappen’s lap in the first sectors before losing time later on. Elsewhere, the McLaren pair of Norris and Oscar Piastri were both around eight-tenths adrift in P7 and P8 respectively, the duo having been outpaced by the likes of Russell, Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz. Improvements followed as the session progressed, with Antonelli slotting into third on his slightly out-of-sync run plan from his team mate, while Norris moved up to fourth and Hamilton claimed fifth on his second attempt.
Verstappen, meanwhile, appeared satisfied with his soft-shod effort, having returned to the pits and bolted on a set of medium tyres before returning to the track for a race simulation run. In the other Red Bull, Tsunoda asked the team to check the floor of his car after taking quite a bit of kerb. While the likes of Leclerc joined Verstappen in switching to the C4 medium compound, many remained on the C5 soft for their longer runs. One of these to stay on the latter was Piastri, the Australian sitting down in P12 on the timesheets on a weekend where he will be looking to bounce back from some trickier outings of late.
“I have no grip – it is like driving on ice,” Verstappen radioed in after a slide on the medium tyres, with Russell also reporting struggles with the rears on his Mercedes. For the final minutes of the session, Verstappen returned to the soft rubber while others encountered traffic, with Antonelli voicing frustration after locking up behind Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson. As the chequered flag fell – amid a busy end to the session that witnessed a few close run-ins – Verstappen remained on top thanks to his earlier effort of 1m 17.392s, putting the reigning World Champion ahead of Leclerc and Antonelli.
Norris was the lead McLaren in fourth, with Hamilton, Russell, Tsunoda, Alonso, Sainz and Lance Stroll completing the top 10. Lawson followed in P11, with Piastri ending the hour in a more distant P12. Haas’ Esteban Ocon claimed P13 from Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar (P14), the Kick Sauber pair of Gabriel Bortoleto (P15) and Nico Hulkenberg (P16) and the Haas of Ollie Bearman (P17), with the Alpines of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly separated by Albon at the rear of the pack.
[The story is as per press release]
