Verstappen heads impressive Albon as three rookies debut in Mexico FP1

Triple world champion Verstappen ended Friday’s first practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit 0.095s clear of Albon, who split the Red Bull pair with an impressive lap in his Williams. 

• F1 Mexico City Grand Prix 2023 - Friday Practice Results

Home hero Sergio Perez was third-quickest and 0.297s adrift of teammate Verstappen.

Lando Norris put his McLaren fourth, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and teammate Oscar Piastri, who in turn headed the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. 

Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll completed the top-10 for AlphaTauri, Alpine, and Aston Martin respectively. 

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton ended up only 11th in his Mercedes, over a second off Verstappen’s benchmark time. 

FP1 in Mexico City was dominated by technical problems, with Sainz encountering a hydraulics issue, Norris reporting throttle issues and Leclerc complaining about “strange” nosies coming from his engine. 

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso was only 16th-fastest after his Aston Martin spent the majority of the session stuck in the garage.

Half of the 10 teams fielded young drivers during first practice to fulfil the mandatory rookie running requirement. 

F2 frontrunner and Ferrari F1 junior Ollie Bearman was the fastest of the rookie contingent as he finished 15th and just 1.595s off the pace on his grand prix weekend bow for Haas. 

Isack Hadjar took 17th in his AlphaTauri, ahead of Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Frederik Vesti, who was driving George Russell’s Mercedes as he made his F1 debut. 

Theo Pourchaire had a luckless second FP1 outing for Alfa Romeo, with the F2 championship leader restricted to just four laps and unable to set a time due to a brake-by-wire issue.