Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the pace during first practice for the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix, in which nine non-race drivers were in action.
Leclerc clocked a time of 1:18.300s around the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to finish a tenth of a second clear of Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Sauber, the only team not to run a non-race driver, finished with Nico Hulkenberg third and Gabriel Bortoleto fifth.
They sandwiched title leader Oscar Piastri, who was the only championship contender in action in a session in which nine of the teams ran a rookie driver.
Per the regulations, each team must run a rookie driver in four practice sessions and all bar Sauber opted to tick one of their boxes for FP1 in Mexico City.
Arvid Lindblad was the fastest of the bunch, running for Red Bull in place of Max Verstappen, finishing in sixth place overall, two spots and a tenth of a second in front of regular racer Yuki Tsunoda.
The remaining eighth participants, owing to run plans, finished in the bottom eight positions.
IndyCar front-runner Pato O’Ward was 13th for McLaren, ahead of Mercedes’ Fred Vesti, Alpine’s Paul Aron, and Haas’ Ryo Hirakawa, followed by Racing Bulls’ Ayumu Iwasa and Williams’ Luke Brownings.
The two practice debutants, Aston Martin’s Jak Crawford and Ferrari’s long-time test driver Antonio Fuoco, rounded out the field.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix – FP1 Results
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