Mexico – Free Practice 1: Hamilton the Fastest, Leclerc and Verstappen in Contention

It is under a gray sky and a partially damp track that this first free practice session begins. Most of the drivers did an installation lap on intermediate tires at the start of the session, but it took 25 minutes before having a benchmark set by Latifi at 1:24.463. Valteri Bottas followed suit by setting a time of 1:21.887.

The session finally comes alive after 30 minutes of rolling. Sebastian Vettel takes the lead, but Bottas overtakes him before his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, puts everyone in agreement with a 1:19.004.

Due to the weather, the drivers are lacking grip, and few have managed to complete a perfect lap. Indeed, like Vettel, Gasly, and Giovinazzi, there have been many off-track excursions and wheel lock-ups, especially at the first corner. Additionally, this lack of grip wears the tires, giving engineers and technicians the task of adjusting the car settings. Graining, which greatly hindered the drivers last year, is still very much present.

After 40 minutes, it’s time to return to the pits to give back the tires loaned by Pirelli. At that moment, it’s Charles Leclerc who is leading the session with a time of 1:18.849.

Alexander Albon takes first place with soft tires in 1:17.949 while Lance Stroll makes a mistake in the last sector at turn 16, ending up harmlessly in the wall. The red flag is therefore logically waved, and the session is stopped to clean the track and reset the barriers.

There are 20 minutes left when the green flag is waved, and Hamilton takes advantage of it to reclaim the first place with a time of 1:17.327. He will keep this position until the end of the session ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Noteworthy is the excellent work of the Racing Point team mechanics, allowing Lance Stroll to get back on track for the final minutes of this session.