George Russell set the fastest lap in the first free practice of the Grand Prix in Mexico City, being the only driver to go under 1:17, stopping the clocks in 1 minute 17.998 seconds. The Brit left his Ferrari behind Carlos Sainz and the RB of Yuki Tsunoda, in a period that saw 5 rookie drivers and two red flags.
With regulations stipulating that all F1 drivers must give way in an in-season FP1 to a rookie with no more than two F1 race starts, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Kick Sauber were the teams that gave the opportunity to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Oliver Bearman, Pato O’Ward, Felipe Drugovich and Robert Shwartzman, respectively.
That means Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso – who is celebrating his 400th race in F1 – and Zhou Guanyu sat in their teams’ garages for the 60 minutes of the season.
The lack of use of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez track and the high altitude highlighted the lack of grip and many drivers had exits and slides.
Russell, who is running Mercedes’ older aero package this weekend, was quick throughout FP1 with a time of 1 minute and 19.519 on the hard Pirelli tyres, which he repeated on the soft rubber as he set the fastest time of the period.
However, just as Sainz had provisionally set the fastest time, the red flags came out when Alex Albon lost control of his Williams at the track’s back-to-back corners and came into contact with the slow-moving Bearman, crashing into the roll bars at speed. The Williams engineers have a very difficult job to repair the car in time before FP2.
Results
| Position | Guide | Group | Year | Difference | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:17.998 | 24 | |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:18.315 | +0.317 sec. | 25 |
| 3 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB Honda | 1:18.699 | +0.701 sec. | 24 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Honda | 1:18.839 | +0.841 sec. | 14 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas Ferrari | 1:18.904 | +0.906 sec. | 18 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | 1:18.958 | +0.960 sec. | 24 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 1:18.996 | +0.998 sec. | 22 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber Ferrari | 1:19.048 | +1.050 sec. | 24 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | RB Honda | 1:19.093 | +1.095 sec. | 26 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Honda | 1:19.094 | +1.096 sec. | 23 |
| 11 | Franco Colapinto | Williams Mercedes | 1:19.109 | +1.111 sec. | 21 |
| 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:19.200 | +1.202 sec. | 19 |
| 13 | Patricio O’Ward | McLaren Mercedes | 1:19.295 | +1.297 sec. | 21 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:19.335 | +1.337 sec. | 23 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | 1:19.340 | +1.342 sec. | 20 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:19.600 | +1.602 sec. | 18 |
| 17 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | 1:19.812 | +1.814 sec. | 7 |
| 18 | Felipe Drugovich | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:19.819 | +1.821 sec. | 17 |
| 19 | Robert Shwartzman | Sauber Ferrari | 1:19.988 | +1.990 sec. | 18 |
| 20 | Oliver Bearman | Ferrari | 1:21.256 | +3.258 sec. | 7 |
Source: www.autoblog.gr
