Mexico GP: Mercedes fractionally lead Red Bull in Practice 1

Mercedes just had the early edge on Red Bull in a dusty Practice 1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The action started early at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, as Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez spun into the barriers within seconds of each other at the penultimate corner in the opening minutes, requiring new rear wings.

Mercedes wasted little time in jumping to the top of the timesheet as both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas focused on the soft tyres.

Max Verstappen though would opt for the hard Pirellis for his first run and actually ended it matching Hamilton’s initial benchmark before pitting.

As the track improved, lap times quickly dropped with all teams switching to the red-striped soft rubber, and again the top two teams took turns at being in front.

However, Bottas was able to finish ahead, posting a 1m18.341s to finish 0.076s clear of his teammate.

Verstappen was just over a tenth back in third, while Perez recovered from his early setback to be just over a quarter of a second off the pace in fourth.

AlphaTauri typically run higher engine modes than their sister team in practice, and that was shown by Pierre Gasly’s strong pace in fifth, half a second up on Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari in sixth.

Alpine also look competitive after the opening laps with Fernando Alonso seventh and Esteban Ocon ninth, either side of Charles Leclerc.

Completing the top 10 was Sebastian Vettel for Aston Martin, with his teammate Lance Stroll one of two drivers already confirmed with engine-related grid penalties along with Yuki Tsunoda.

Further down, McLaren made a steady start in 14th and 15th for Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris respectively.

Williams also took it easy in 17th and 18th with the two Haas’ in their now customary places at the back of the field.

Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below: