George Russell will miss Free Practice 1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix, as team-mate Kimi Antonelli is on the cusp of the title.
For the first time in 2026, Russell will step out of the W17 for one of the two mandatory sessions he must give to a young driver - with Mercedes reserve Fred Vesti stepping into Russell's cockpit at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Antonelli had missed FP1 at the Barcelona-Catalunya and Hungarian Grands Prix earlier in the season to fulfil his two slots in favour of Vesti with Russell now required to miss one more session this year.
Mexico, owing to the dusty track conditions found in FP1, is a common place for drivers to miss one of their sessions and hand over to the younger driver before returning for FP2.
Russell must win the grand prix this weekend to have any hopes of beating Antonelli to the title, with the Italian holding a 123-point lead over the Briton, with 125 points remaining.
If Russell does not win, Antonelli will win the title by default, with Antonelli requiring a ninth-place finish if Russell does claim victory.
Lewis Hamilton also remains in contention, and if he also does not win, Antonelli is champion - with a 10th place sufficing should the seven-time champion win the race.
Vesti is not the only FP1 driver confirmed for Mexico thus far, with Aston Martin giving Jak Crawford a latest run-out, whilst Audi is to hand protege Freddie Slater his F1 weekend debut with his first FP1.
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the United States GP and look ahead to Mexico City! Red Bull's return of gearbox gremlins is a lead discussion, as is Kimi Antonelli being just days away from becoming world champion.
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