Ferrari on top in a session of strangers
Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix, a 1:18.380 around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli came closest for Mercedes, 0.107 seconds behind, and Mercedes reserve Frederik Vesti took third.
The order looked unusual because so many familiar names were missing. Ten rookie stand-ins filled cars across the grid, with Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton among the drivers required to give up the session under Formula One's young driver rules. Teams treat that obligation as a chance to bank real mileage on a circuit that punishes inexperience.
Dust, hard tyres and slow times
The track was covered in its usual layer of dust, and grip was low for the first half hour. Most drivers stayed on hard compound tyres while the surface cleaned up. Times sat more than two seconds off the pole lap set here in recent years before soft tyres went on.
Arvid Lindblad was the quickest of the newcomers, slotting into tenth with a 1:19.478, ahead of more experienced team mates in the same session. Isack Hadjar was eleventh, and Nikola Tsolov twelfth, showing that the Racing Bulls pair adapted quickly to the low-grip conditions.
The championship picture
Antonelli arrives in Mexico with a comfortable lead. The Mercedes driver has 365 points after 18 rounds, with team mate George Russell on 242 and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton on 241. In the constructors' standings Mercedes lead on 607, Ferrari have 474 and Red Bull 355.
Four rounds remain, including this one. Antonelli needs to avoid mistakes rather than chase wins, and the thin air of Mexico City, which reduces downforce and cools engines less effectively, is a place where small errors get amplified.
Second practice later on Friday will be the first real test of race pace, with the full field in their usual cars and softer compounds available. Ferrari's single-lap speed in the hands of a stand-in-heavy session is encouraging but incomplete evidence. Teams will spend the evening comparing long-run data before qualifying decides the grid.