Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) topped first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix with a 1:18.128, with Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) second, 0.659s back. But 10 of the 11 teams gave one car to a young driver, so the timesheet needs careful reading. It is the first thing to keep in mind as teams head into Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race.
FP1 top 10
These are the top 10 on the official classification. Ferrari was the only team to run its regular line-up (Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton), and the two cars finished first and fourth. Mercedes put Frederik Vesti in for George Russell, and he was third.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time/gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:18.128 | 29 |
| 2 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +0.659s | 30 |
| 3 | Frederik Vesti | Mercedes | +0.733s | 24 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +0.738s | 25 |
| 5 | Ayumu Iwasa | Red Bull | +0.985s | 23 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +1.082s | 33 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +1.229s | 29 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +1.248s | 30 |
| 9 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | +1.284s | 28 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +1.350s | 30 |
Ten teams ran young drivers
Formula1.com reported that 10 of the 11 teams ran young drivers. The substitutions that can be identified: Iwasa for Max Verstappen, Leonardo Fornaroli for Lando Norris and Jak Crawford for Lance Stroll. Alpine ran Gabriele Mini, Haas ran Ryo Hirakawa, Williams ran Luke Browning, Audi ran Freddie Slater and Cadillac ran Colton Herta, while Racing Bulls' Nikola Tsolov drove Liam Lawson's car. The report names Tsolov, Slater and Mini as making their F1 debuts.
That makes it hard to read the order from 11th down, where the field is bunched within about a second, as a ranking of the teams. Ferrari was the only team to run its regular line-up; every other team gave one car to a young driver.
Crawford stops, Slater hampered by an Audi error
With roughly 10 minutes left, Crawford stopped his Aston Martin at Turn 1, bringing out a brief Virtual Safety Car. Formula1.com said only that there was a problem; GPFans reported a suspected ERS issue. Crawford finished 19th after 15 laps.
Audi's Slater had his session compromised at the halfway point. Formula1.com wrote that the car appeared to have been sent out with a sidepod fan still attached, damaging the power unit, while a video page from the same outlet says the team left a cooling vent bung in the car. The two descriptions of the part differ. Slater was classified 21st, +2.817s, after 14 laps, and the report says the stewards are set to investigate the unsafe release after the session. No outcome appeared in any source consulted.
Bottas grid penalty and the rest of the weekend
According to formula1.com, Cadillac changed the ICE, turbocharger, energy store, control electronics and MGU-K on Car 77 (Valtteri Bottas). All five are first-time changes for 2026, so the article describes an official 50-place drop, and says any penalty of more than 15 places means a back-of-the-grid start. It applies only if he is classified in qualifying. Bottas missed Thursday's media duties through illness, and Sergio Perez was also unwell and arrived late on Friday. Herta drove Bottas's car in FP1.
This Saturday (31 October, local time), FP3 runs at 11:30 (17:30 UTC) and qualifying at 15:00 (21:00 UTC); the race is on Sunday at 14:00 (20:00 UTC). Friday's FP2 started at 16:00 local (22:00 UTC).
Sources
- formula1.com — FP1: Leclerc leads Antonelli in Mexico City as new faces make Formula 1 debuts
- formula1.com — 2026 Mexico City GP Practice 1 results
- formula1.com — Bottas set for grid penalty at Mexico City Grand Prix after power unit changes
- formula1.com — 2026 Mexico City GP FP1: Slater's session hampered by Audi mistake
- GPFans — F1 Results Today: Mexican Grand Prix practice times and positions
- Yahoo Sports (GPblog) — Ferrari begins Mexico City weekend strong as Leclerc leads Antonelli