Charles Leclerc went fastest in the first free practice session at the Mexico City Grand Prix, setting a lap time of 1:18.380.
Kimi Antonelli and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top three in an hour that saw nine rookies deputising. Oscar Piastri, who had a late slide in his McLaren, was only fourth quickest.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a popular venue for teams to switch out a regular driver to satisfy the F1 regulations that mandate a rookie must be run in four FP1 sessions over a season — two on each car.
Arvid Lindblad, setting into the Red Bull in place of Max Verstappen, was the quickest of that cohort, going sixth fastest and quicker than Yuki Tsunoda in the other RB21.
The F2 driver is in contention for a Racing Bulls seat in 2026, along with Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, who was sitting out for Ayumu Iwasa in the VCARB 02.
It was a quiet session overall, with technical issues at F1 blighting the broadcast — this accounts for any missing data in the full results below.
Result Free practice 1 - Mexican
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Tyre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results are being loaded... | ||||
Get the latest F1 news from RacingNews365 directly in your Google feed! Click on the link below and you’ll see your favourite F1 website appearing even more often. That way, you’ll never miss any news, analyses, interviews, or exclusives.
Follow RacingNews365 on GoogleMost read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!