2024 Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 F1 results (Mexico City)

Thomas Maher 25 Oct 2024 8:33 PM

George Russell, Mercedes, 2024 United States Grand Prix.

George Russell set the fastest time of first practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Here are the complete results from the first practice session at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The first practice session ahead of this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix took place in warm conditions as the drivers set about getting to grips with the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Georg Russell sets the pace in FP1

The first practice session in Mexico saw several teams set about ticking boxes for their junior driver requirements, with the regulations dictating that every team must hand over at least two practice sessions over the season for drivers of two Grands Prix experience or fewer.

Mercedes handed Lewis Hamilton’s W15 to Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris was replaced by Patricio O’Ward, Zhou Guanyu sat out the session in favour of Robert Shwartzman, Oliver Bearman in place of Charles Leclerc, and Felipe Drugovich behind the wheel of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.

The session had barely begun when it was immediately red-flagged due to a small piece of debris being on the track on the main straight, which was struck by Antonelli’s left front wheel.

With the track proving very dirty and dusty, track conditions continuously improved throughout the session and it was Mercedes’ George Russell who set the fastest time as he logged a 1:17.998 on the soft tyre compound.

This was three-tenths clear of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with Yuki Tsunoda in third for VCARB.

The session was interrupted midway through as Williams’ Alex Albon and Ferrari’s Olvier Bearman were involved in a collision triggered by Albon losing the rear of his car through the high-speed esses in the middle sector.

The red flag held up the action for several minutes before the session resumed.

In the final minutes, Max Verstappen radioed in to complain that he was suffering from a lack of power from his Honda engine and he returned to the pits and clambered out of his RB20 with three minutes remaining – the Dutch driver finished the session in fourth place.

FULL REPORT: Mexican GP: Mercedes strike first, Verstappen power issue and Albon crashes out