Antonio Felix da Costa topped the timings in the first free practice session for Saturday’s FIA Formula E Mexico City E-Prix.
The Tag Heuer Porsche man went fastest with 1:10.855, a lap some two-and-a-half seconds faster than last year’s pole position time on this Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, set by the Portuguese’s team-mate Pascal Wehrlein.
NEOM McLaren’s Taylor Barnard, who became FE’s youngest-ever podium-scorer last-time out in Brazil, was second, just under a tenth slower.
Nissan’s Oliver Rowland was also not far behind with a 1:10.977, with Wehrlein fourth.
Lucas di Grassi showed some good one lap pace for Lola-Yamaha-ABT with sixth place, with the sister Nissan of Norman Nato seventh.
Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi, who finished second at the corresponding event last year, was eighth.
Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara was ninth, with Maserati’s Stoffel Vandoorne round-up the top ten, which was covered by sixth tenths, and all but two of the field were able to set a faster time than Wehrlein’s 2024 benchmark, a testament to the speed of the GEN3 Evo car with the added all-wheel drive feature, and despite the tightening of the first corner.
The session was largely cloudy and continuously spat with rain throughout, causing many drivers to wrestle their cars around the final Peraltada corner with the threat of a full slide.
The one driver unfortunately unable to stay out of the outer barrier in such a moment was Cupra Kiro’s David Beckmann, who suffered a left-rear suspension damage in the final seconds of the half-hour.
