Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton opened the Mexican Grand Prix weekend atop the timesheets on Friday morning at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Drivers completed the majority of a quiet session on Soft and Medium rubber, in the wake of a few early install laps on Intermediates, following heavy rain on Thursday night.
Hamilton, who has played down Mercedes’ prospects at the high-altitude venue, clocked a time of 1:17.327s to finish 0.119s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton used the Soft tyres to clock his session-leading effort while Leclerc’s best time came on the Medium compound.
Hamilton will seal a sixth world title on Sunday if he scores 14 points more than team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who placed fifth in the session.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who has won in Mexico City across the past two years, finished third, ensuring Formula 1’s leading three teams were covered by just 0.134s.
Alexander Albon finished fourth, almost half a second behind his Red Bull team-mate, with Bottas fifth and Sebastian Vettel a subdued sixth.
Vettel, who like Leclerc used Mediums, was almost nine-tenths down on Hamilton and had a couple of excursions through the Turn 1 grass run-off during the course of the session.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. picked up his now-customary position as ‘best of the rest’ in seventh spot, within two-tenths of Vettel, as Toro Rosso had both cars featuring strongly.
Pierre Gasly was eighth, with Daniil Kvyat ninth, as Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi completed the top 10.
Renault, in the wake of its exclusion from the Japanese Grand Prix, took only 11th and 15th respectively, with outgoing driver Nico Hulkenberg four spots ahead of 2018 polesitter Daniel Ricciardo.
They were split by Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) and Lando Norris (McLaren).
Lance Stroll caused the only red flag of the session when he slid wide and hit the barriers exiting the Foro Sol stadium section.
The damage sustained to Stroll’s Racing Point was only minor as he was able to recover to the pit lane, and resume his programme for the remainder of the session.
Local hero Sergio Perez was a subdued 17th, ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean, with the Williams drivers at the back of the field.
George Russell took 19th, with Nicholas Latifi a second further adrift as he completed his first of three successive FP1 sessions.
Friday’s second 90-minute practice session is scheduled for 14:00 local time
