Leclerc Leads Mexico City GP Practice by 0.659 Seconds as Rookies Take the Wheel

Charles Leclerc opened the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend with a clear advantage, setting a 1m 18.128s lap to lead a disrupted, rookie-heavy first practice session by 0.659 seconds. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was second, while Mercedes stand-in Fred Vesti put in the session’s standout rookie performance with third place.

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, ahead of Ayumu Iwasa in Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Oliver Bearman and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten. The times came from a single hour of running on a dusty circuit where drivers had to manage limited grip, changing tyre compounds and, at Mexico City’s altitude, the challenge of keeping their cars cool.

Ten teams used the session to give rookies track time. Vesti drove George Russell’s Mercedes, while Iwasa took Verstappen’s Red Bull and Leonardo Fornaroli replaced Lando Norris in the McLaren. Nikola Tsolov drove for Racing Bulls in Liam Lawson’s place; Gabriele Mini filled in for Franco Colapinto at Alpine, and Ryo Hirakawa took Esteban Ocon’s Haas.

Freddie Slater drove Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi, Luke Browning stepped into Alex Albon’s Williams, and Jak Crawford replaced Lance Stroll at Aston Martin. Colton Herta completed the group in Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac. The number of stand-ins made the session a useful opportunity to assess several young drivers, though car issues and off-track moments complicated comparisons.

Low grip shaped the opening runs

Most teams began on hard tyres, with Piastri and both Racing Bulls cars starting on mediums. Track conditions were warm, at 41°C on the surface and 22°C in the air, so bringing the tyres up to temperature wasn’t the main concern. The higher-priority task was keeping the cars within their cooling limits at altitude.

Dust and low grip made the opening phase scrappy. Antonelli ran wide after kicking up dust, and Sergio Pérez had a similar moment through the stadium section. Antonelli initially set the pace with a 1m 20.155s, but later had a sharp oversteer snap and narrowly avoided the wall. Nico Hülkenberg locked up, Piastri crossed the grass at Turn 1, and Hamilton slid wide at a faster corner before catching the kerbs.

Hamilton has had a mixed record in Mexico City. He has two wins and one pole at the circuit, with his most recent victory coming in 2019. Red Bull’s strength at altitude has often made the venue a difficult one for rivals, even when the team’s form elsewhere has been less convincing.

Mechanical interruptions cut into running

Isack Hadjar’s opening session was compromised by a suspected power unit problem. “Something’s wrong man. Like, is it engine braking? Are there holes in the engine? I have no power. What’s happening? Look I have no power,” he told his team over the radio. Red Bull brought him back to the pits to investigate. Engineers also checked his steering wheel after he reported that it was leaning to the right. Despite the interruption, Hadjar ended the hour in 11th.

Audi’s session was more difficult. Slater was called in after six laps and told to switch off the engine. Earlier, he had returned to the garage because a cooling fan left in the car was blocking a sidepod. He got back out late, then locked up and ran off the circuit during a fast lap. He continued and finished 21st, but the limited mileage left little time to build a clear picture of his pace.

Fornaroli also had a moment on his soft-tyre run, locking up and crossing the grass. When he asked what had happened, his engineer suggested the tyres might have been cold. He recovered to finish 17th, though the incident left a question over whether Norris’s floor might have been affected.

Crawford’s running ended with about 12 minutes left. He stopped in a run-off area after his steering wheel display went blank, prompting a Virtual Safety Car. Aston Martin later cited a suspected ERS issue. For rookies, curtailed sessions mean fewer chances to learn the circuit and provide feedback; for their teams, the missing laps also limit the data available from the practice hour.

Vesti and Iwasa lead the rookie results

Soft tyres began appearing with roughly half an hour remaining. Lindblad, Leclerc and Antonelli were among the early runners on the compound. Hamilton briefly moved to the top on hards, but Leclerc took first place with 25 minutes left and held it to the chequered flag. His margin over Antonelli was the session’s most striking performance gap.

Vesti’s third place, in Russell’s Mercedes, was the clearest result among the rookies. Iwasa’s fifth in Verstappen’s Red Bull was another strong showing, although a single practice session offers only a snapshot: drivers had different cars, programmes and amounts of uninterrupted running.

Tsolov finished 12th, just 0.126 seconds behind Lindblad, after improving on his second soft-tyre run. His result followed a strong Formula 2 season and arrives while Racing Bulls’ 2027 driver line-up remains unconfirmed, with Lawson and Lindblad currently in the team’s seats. Team principal Alan Permane said Tsolov had delivered a “textbook first session,” pointing to his consistency, feedback and pace.

Herta was the slowest driver, 3.237 seconds off Leclerc’s benchmark. The gap is a result from this session, rather than a settled measure of how the rookie or Cadillac will compare over a full weekend. The next practice runs will show which teams can turn the limited first-hour data into cleaner laps and a more representative order.

READ MORE: F1 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix – FP1 Results

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