2026 Formula 1 Mexican GP
F1 Mexico GP: Follow FP1 in Mexico City with live timing
Updates from the opening practice session at Formula 1's Mexico City Grand Prix
Live Standings
Live Text
Tsolov has risen up to sixth, two tenths up on Lindblad - but as we said, take times with a pinch of salt at this stage. Still, it shows the Bulgarian is getting acclimatised to the car reasonably swiftly.
Gasly moves up to fourth, as Mini goes 13th.
Antonelli backed out of a lap, having had a snap a little bit close to the wall at the Peraltada - Perez does almost exactly the same thing.
Fornaroli has a big snap through Turn 11, and just saves that. Low grip out there, and it's not easy to keep the car on the circuit.
Hulkenberg had a lock-up at Turn 1, and goes wide. Antonelli has improved again, 0.303s off Leclerc's current benchmark.
Crawford and Slater yet to set times, and they're currently in the pits. Hadjar, meanwhile, is having a PU issue investigated.
Mini spools up for his first lap in the Alpine, as temporary team-mate Gasly moves up to third, before Lindblad returns to the top three. Hulkenberg, meanwhile, is second.
Bearman moves up to fourth, but Leclerc then posts a 1m19.197s to go to the top, almost a second up on Antonelli.
Bearman moves up to second, 0.038s off Antonelli - but then loses his time for track limits.
Antonelli then raises the bar, posting a 1m20.155s, as we have a brief yellow flag. Possibly a brief off.
Antonelli sets a 1m20.814s to return to the top.
"Something's wrong, engine braking, I have no power. I have an issue, actually," Hadjar says. He's crawling along, taking the Turn 4 escape road.
Perez goes up to sixth - this is his 300th grand prix weekend, fittingly at his home locale.
Antonelli indeed lost his lap. Bearman then sets a 1m21.884s to go top on the hard tyre, but Iwasa's finding time in the Red Bull and goes to the top! 1m21.351s for the Japanese driver.
Lindblad beats Iwasa's first sector, but loses time in the second - but sets a 1m21.802s on the medium to rise to first.
Of course, take all the laps with a pinch of salt for now.
Perez improves his time, kicking out the rear around the half-Peraltada. Antonelli slips off at Turn 12, goes quickest regardless, but that's probably a track limits.
The cars will be slippery with less aero compared to last year, and the circuit has also been resurfaced - so it needs time to bed in.
Piastri has a lock-up at Turn 4 - the rookies, then, will want to keep things clean.
Tsolov says "something is smoking", but is told the brakes are just a touch hot.
Almost a full house already, as teams want to get a sense of the conditions - Alonso is not out yet. Tsolov opens his first lap at an F1 weekend on the medium tyre.
Perez opens with a 1m26.713s, immediately beaten by Leclerc's 1m21.965s, but there's still a ton of time to find.
Hamilton is first on the scene, with some aero rakes: keen to get on with some set-up work.
Crawford, Mini, Vesti, Herta, and Slater also hit the track.
Just a couple of minutes to go - and then it's the usual 60 minutes of FP1 fun! It's 22C air temperature, 43C track, and low-density air - 78% of the usual density at sea level, which means the turbos have to work harder to feed the engine with the same mass flow rate of air.
Cooling is much more difficult as well, hence we have a surplus of cooling louvres on the cars.
The Mex-t generation
Big opportunity for some of these rookies in Mexico practicr: Nikola Tsolov is in contention for a Racing Bulls seat for 2027, while Freddie Slater's junior record suggests that he's a potential future F1 hope for Audi.
And then there's Cadillac: the American squad's line-up looked set, but Colton Herta is very much in the frame - and closing in on the superlicence points needed to drive in F1 in 2027.
Of course, a Mexico FP1 session is regarded as the moment where Ollie Bearman got onto Haas' radar after impressing the team with his run in 2023.
Colton Herta, Hitech
Photo by: Getty Images
The bug in the system
We've been talking about bugs quite a lot over the recent flyaways - software bugs in Malaysia and Singapore (well, the latter wasn't a bug - someone just forgot to press a button) and now a bit of a sickness bug going around the paddock.
Kimi Antonelli missed media day yesterday, Valtteri Bottas was also unwell, and now Sergio Perez has caught something and missed the earlier fan forum. Cadillac is hoping the Mexican is well enough to drive in FP1, especially in front of the home crowd...
Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Manuel Eletto / Getty Images
The FP1 rookies
In the event we have any newcomers, or just want a refresher: every driver who has done more than two races in F1 must give up their seat for FP1 at least twice per season. Arvid Lindblad is exempt, as his first two FP1 appearances of the 2026 season counted.
Mercedes: Vesti in for Russell
Red Bull: Iwasa in for Verstappen
McLaren: Fornaroli in for Norris
Racing Bulls: Tsolov in for Lawson
Alpine: Mini in for Colapinto
Haas: Hirakawa in for Ocon
Audi: Slater in for Bortoleto
Williams: Browning in for Albon
Aston Martin: Crawford in for Stroll
Cadillac: Herta in for Bottas
Gabriele Mini, Alpine F1
Photo by: Manuel Eletto / Getty Images
Mexico City Grand Prix - FP1
Hello everyone, and welcome to our live coverage of F1's Mexico round at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City!
As always, we'll be taking you through the session - one that might look a little bit different this weekend, as there's quite a few new faces making their debut runs in FP1. It's a less important session, this, as the circuit begins very dusty and there's a lot of evolution through the weekend - perfect to use one of your rookie allowances.
Let's have a look, shall we?
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Manuel Eletto / Getty Images
