Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Mexican GP FP1: Valtteri Bottas leads Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes 1-2

Valtteri Bottas beat Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the quickest time in the opening practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix

Bottas clocked a 1m17.824s on the ultra-softs to finish 0.466s clear of Hamilton, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen a further tenth adrift in third.

Bottas set the early pace on the super-softs, clocking a 1m19.614s, only to be deposed by Verstappen on the softs by half a tenth.

Hamilton moved to the top of the order briefly before Sebastian Vettel became the first driver to dip under 1m19s with a 1m18.824s on the super-softs.

Mercedes then turned its attention to the ultra-softs, with Bottas going quickest with a 1m17.824s and following that up with a second lap just 0.012s slower.

Hamilton was 0.789s off on his first run on the ultra-softs, losing time in the final sector.

Next time around, the championship leader had a slow middle sector, but closed the gap to just under half a second.

Ferrari and Red Bull opted not to run the ultra-soft tyres, saving them for the second session, and instead did their running on either the super-soft or soft.

Daniel Ricciardo was fourth quickest, 0.026s slower than Red Bull team-mate Verstappen, with Vettel the leading Ferrari in fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen was sixth, four tenths slower than Vettel, with Sergio Perez using the ultra-softs to end the session seventh in front of his home crowd.

There was frustration for the other Force India when Alfonso Celis Jr crashed at the final corner to bring out the red flag.

Celis, who was borrowing Esteban Ocon's car for FP1, lost the rear on entry to the final corner and hit the wall on the outside, breaking the rear wing.

Fernando Alonso, who will take a 20-place grid penalty for Sunday's race after engine component changes, was eighth with Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10.

Kevin Magnussen spent most of the session in the garage after his Haas team discovered a water leak but got out in the closing minutes to clock the 13th fastest time.

Pascal Wehrlein, who has yet to secure a seat for next season, was 14th quickest, ahead of both Toro Rosso drivers and half a second ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was stepping in for Marcus Ericsson.

Brendon Hartley stopped out on track reporting an engine problem and though he managed to get his Toro Rosso going again to return to the pits, he didn't complete any further running.

He was 18th fastest, a tenth adrift of Sean Gelael, who was standing in for Pierre Gasly for this session.

Stoffel Vandoorne failed to set a time after Honda detected a potential issue in his engine data.

It came after Honda completed a full engine change ahead of the session in a bid to have relatively fresh elements for the final two races of the season.

When Honda detected the problem during FP1, it decided to revert to an older specification from Vandoorne's pool, which means no further penalty, while it investigates the issue.

FP1 times

Pos Driver Car Gap Laps
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m17.824s 42
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.466s 35
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 0.571s 16
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 0.597s 28
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 0.762s 28
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1.184s 27
7 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1.416s 21
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1.522s 20
9 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1.619s 32
10 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1.728s 19
11 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 1.730s 24
12 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1.948s 34
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 2.820s 16
14 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber/Ferrari 3.147s 30
15 Antonio Giovinazzi Haas/Ferrari 3.445s 26
16 Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari 3.622s 28
17 Sean Gelael Toro Rosso/Renault 3.815s 29
18 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Renault 3.923s 10
19 Alfonso Celis Force India/Mercedes 4.518s 17
20 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda - 3


Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Alonso, Vandoorne get Mexican GP penalties for F1 engines changes
Next article Haas boss Steiner says Newgarden 'can't just jump in' to F1

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe