F1 Mexico GP live commentary and updates - FP1
Follow along for the opening practice session of Formula 1's Mexico City Grand Prix weekend
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And that's all from us for now - we'll be back later on to bring you through FP2, where we'll be reunited with our full usual cast of drivers.
Catch you then!
We've got some practice starts to conclude the action on-track - even if many of the drivers won't actually be doing them, it's good for them and the engineers to understand the launch processes.
FP1 complete!
Charles Leclerc ends the session with a 1m18.380s to sit top. Antonelli, Hulkenberg, Piastri, and Bortoleto complete our top five, with Lindblad sixth - just 0.6s off the pace and a tenth up on Tsunoda.
Of the rest of the FP1 rookies, O'Ward leads the remainder of that pack, ahead of Vesti, Aron, Hirakawa, Iwasa, Browning, Crawford, and Fuoco.
Antonelli finishes his 33rd lap, having done the most laps of anyone so far. Alex Albon has done 32.
We don't have anyone really challenging the current timing order at the moment; lots of yellow and white times on the timing board.
Piastri has a slide at Turn 9 and catches it, gathering some of the dust off-track.
Browning backs out of a lap after a twitch in the opening three corners.
Lindblad is up to sixth to lead our FP1 limited edition pack, a tenth quicker than Tsunoda.
Mercedes is making the most of Vesti's car being on the circuit to pop a decal on the floor for George Russell. Let's see if Mercedes' pace, with Antonelli in second, can also stick.
We've got just under 10 minutes to go.
Antonio "Tony Fire" Fuoco is having a quiet first official F1 session with Ferrari - the Italian, once a team-mate of Leclerc in F2, has done 18 laps on the same set of hard tyres.
Hirakawa and Hulkenberg have done the fewest laps of anyone thus far, with 16 tours of the circuit.
Hadjar goes a bit deep at Turn 12, and slowly backs out of the run-off before the Foro Sol - the stadium has been recently remodelled.
Leclerc remains top with 17 minutes of the session remaining.
Our rookie crop currently occupies the bottom 10 positions, with Vesti and Hirakawa currently at the head of that pack. Gabriel Bortoleto is the only interloper in that bottom 10.
Lindblad has a slight wide at Turn 12 while on a hot lap on softs - the young Brit will spool up for another lap.
Leclerc goes top with a 1m18.380s on the softs.
Leclerc posts a 1m18.895s on the softs to go top, while Albon slots into third place on the medium.
As we say that, Antonelli now does a 1m18.487s as Piastri briefly went back to the top - the track is getting quicker and quicker.
Colapinto has an off through the esses, with lots of dust fluffed up by the Alpine driver.
We've got a few more takers for softs, as a couple of teams fancy taking a tilt at Piastri's current benchmark.
Piastri gets a run in on softs and posts a 1m19.035s - almost a full second up on Hadjar.
O'Ward gets a quicker time in on the hard tyres, albeit almost 2s down on Piastri's effort.
Aron moves himself up to 13th on that run, about 0.4s off Colapinto on an equivalent lap - although that might have been found with a brief slide through the opening sector.
Hadjar improves to a 1m20.005s to resume his hold of the top. Bortoleto goes fifth, 0.06s ahead of Hulkenberg.
Antonelli now puts himself to the top, with a 1m20.035s. Among our rookies in this session, Luke Browning is currently 10th - 1.1s off Antonelli's pace from that lap. Lindblad is just under a tenth behind.
Antonelli is up to third, completing our interesting top 10 of Hadjar, Ocon, Antonelli, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Alonso, Browning, Albon, and Lindblad.
Hadjar gets us up to a 1m20.128s, sporting an Alain Prost-themed helmet for this session.
Colapinto gets up to sixth, as he's in a quasi-shootout with Paul Aron in this session. Aron will want to impress Alpine, as he's in the frame for a drive next year.
Ocon closes out the opening 10 minutes with the fastest time, a 1m20.934s. Just the five seconds to find on last year...
Hadjar now posts a 1m21.091s. Still a way to go, as the circuit cleans up and rubbers in, and the younger drivers get experience of this very unique circuit.
Mexico City stands at 2240m above sea level, which means that the air is considerably less dense than those in standard conditions.
Air density at sea level is considered to be around 1.225kg/m3 , while Mexico City's air has a density approximately 78% of that figure – producing a density value of 0.96kg/m3.
That makes the turbochargers work harder, and aero less effective.
Esteban Ocon chisels off a bit of time off Leclerc, it's a 1m21.884s - but championship leader Oscar Piastri gets a 1m21.570s.
Alonso's the only driver yet to get a time in - the Spaniard is now circulating.
Leclerc gets a 1m21.939s - we're quite a way off the laptimes that we're expecting at the more crucial moments of this weekend.
For reference, Carlos Sainz's pole last year was a 1m15.946s - so six seconds to find as we progress.
Our other FP1 deputies are on-track - Lindblad, O'Ward, Browning, Iwasa, Hirakawa, Crawford, and Aron hit the track.
Isack Hadjar opens his account with a 1m22.001s on his opening sighter lap. He's on the mediums, while most are on the hard tyre.
Why so many rookies in Mexico's FP1? Ollie Bearman explained that one yesterday - he said that you lose a lot less here from the limited track time than you do at other circuits.
Track evolution across the weekend, plus the circuit smoothness, means that you can compensate for that lost FP1 running reasonably well in the other two practice sessions.
FP1 begins
Frederik Vesti is going to be the first man to queue up at the pitlane entrance - he's in George Russell's car. Antonelli and Fuoco are also in the queue.
Vesti leads us away - the session begins.
There's Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari coat and jeans - Antonio Fuoco, one of the key players in Ferrari's WEC line-up, is driving in his car for this session.
Only Sauber is reserve-free in this session, having completed its rookie obligations earlier this season.
It's almost time. Altitude is high. Track temperature is hot. 11 regular drivers, nine reserves.
This should be interesting, right?
Weather check
It's a deceptively cool one out there - 23C air temperature, but a 48C track temperature.
No rain is expected in the session.
15 minutes until FP1 begins
Not long now until we get our first view of the weekend in Mexico. How will the rookies fare? Will we get any early signs of the competitive order?
We'll find out very soon...
Tape-gate: McLaren avoids sticky situation
After the United States Grand Prix in Austin Red Bull was fined €50,000, of which €25,000 was suspended pending good behaviour, when a crew member attempted to access the grid during the formation lap.
The purpose of the visit was to remove a strip of tape left by McLaren to help Lando Norris position his car at the very front of his grid slot.
It was known that a certain level of gamesmanship had been in progress between the two teams and that this was not the first time Red Bull had attempted to interfere with Norris’s markers.
Hamilton: Piastri and Norris must be "cutthroat" against Verstappen in F1 title fight
Lewis Hamilton stated that Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris must become “cutthroat” to hold off Max Verstappen in the 2025 Formula 1 world drivers’ championship battle.
Verstappen has put himself in contention for the title by winning three of the past four grands prix, plus the Austin sprint race - ending the belief that it was just between the McLaren duo.
Red Bull boosts Verstappen's F1 title bid with Mexico GP upgrades
Max Verstappen's late 2025 Formula 1 title push has received another shot in the arm as Red Bull unveiled a raft of upgrades at this weekend's Mexico Grand Prix.
Third-placed Verstappen has closed to within 40 points of McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri after taking three wins out of four. Heading to this weekend's Mexico GP as the pre-event favourite, the Dutchman will now receive another batch of upgrades to his RB21 to improve aerodynamic performance.
Red Bull has brought the latest iteration of its floor design first introduced in Monza, with a reprofiled upper surface rearwards of the outer floor, which should yield extra aerodynamic load. It also reworked its edge wing to interact with the reworked floor.
Nine FP1 rookies
Time for some parish notices ahead of the session - we've got NINE drivers replacing the usual race drivers in FP1. Let's go through them...
McLaren: Pato O'Ward in for Lando Norris
Mercedes: Frederik Vesti in for George Russell
Ferrari: Antonio Fuoco in for Lewis Hamilton
Red Bull: Arvid Lindblad in for Max Verstappen
Williams: Luke Browning in for Carlos Sainz
Racing Bulls: Ayumu Iwasa in for Liam Lawson
Aston Martin: Jak Crawford in for Lance Stroll
Haas: Ryo Hirakawa in for Oliver Bearman
Alpine: Paul Aron in for Pierre Gasly
Pato O'Ward, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Mexico City FP1 - coming soon!
Hello and welcome to our live feed of FP1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix. The session will get going at 12:30pm local time - that's in just under an hour's time.
Mario Achi
Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images
