Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Lando Norris look on as nine rookies take to Mexican GP stage

Charles Leclerc set the early pace in an unusual first practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix.

It was remarkable for the fact that nine of the current F1 line-up looked on from the sidelines as, by the letter of the FIA regulations, they gave up their seat for a rookie.

Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, George Russell, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, and Carlos Sainz were the drivers keeping a keen eye on the data from their replacements, and naturally hoping their cars ended the session in one piece, which proved to be the case.

Sauber was the only exception due to the team completing its rookie running at other FP1 sessions earlier in the season.

At the conclusion of the hour-long run at the Autodromo Hermano Rodriguez, Leclerc set Ferrari off on the right foot for the rest of the weekend by setting the leading time of 1:18. 380s, finishing a tenth of a second faster than Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.

The session was complicated further for all teams and drivers due to technical issues, leading to a loss of GPS data.

It was a typical FP1 in Mexico, and on a circuit rarely used over a year, ensuring it was incredibly dusty by the time the cars took to the track, ensuring the opening laps were more for cleaning up the scorching surface.

Although the air temperature was a pleasant 23°C, track temperature was a steady 48°C throughout, due to the high altitude and thinner air of Mexico City.

With an elevation of 2,238 m (7,343 ft), the air is 20 per cent thinner, ensuring surface temperatures are higher, meaning the cars require a certain level of cooling for the weekend.

In the opening stages, Haas driver Esteban Ocon was the first to dip below the one-minute 21-second mark, posting a lap of 1:20.934s. It was naturally short-lived. After 15 minutes, Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar had lowered the benchmark to 1:20.128s on the hard compound.

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli then shaved 0.093s off of Hadjar's time.

Approaching the midway point of the session, McLaren's Oscar Piastri was the first to turn to the soft tyres, going almost a second clear with a lap of 1:19.035s.

As the soft tyres were slowly introduced, naturally, the leading time continued to be lowered. Although Piastri set a 1:18.7874s, the Australian found himself behind Antonelli by three-tenths of a second, and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg by just 0.024s.

Leclerc then propelled himself a tenth of a second clear of Antonelli, with 25 minutes remaining, and stayed there for the remainder ahead of Antonelli, Hulkenberg, and Piastri, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth on the timesheet.

The leading rookie was Red Bull's Arvid Lindblad, finishing sixth quickest, a tenth of a second clear of Tuki Tsunoda in the other RB21, with Ocon sandwiching the duo.

Alpine's Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon in his Williams completed the top 10, with the latter a second slower than Leclerc.

Hadjar and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso were 11th and 12th on the timesheet, followed by the remaining eight rookies.

In front of his Mexican fans, Pato O'Ward enjoyed a run-out for McLaren, finishing 1.300s off the pace, and nine-tenths of a second adrift of Piastri.

O'Ward was followed by Mercedes' Frederik Vesti, Paul Aron for Alpine, Haas' Ryo Hirakawa, Ayuma Iwasa for Racing Bulls, Luke Browing at Williams, Aston Martin's Jak Crawford, with Antonio Fuoco bringing up the rear for Ferrari, finishing almost 2.5s behind team-mate Leclerc.