MEXICO CITY — Spaniard Carlos Sainz was the fastest driver on day one of the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix presented by Heineken at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Sainz set a lap of 1:17.699 during Practice 2.
Before a crowd of 107,865 fans, the Ferrari team driver was very consistent in his 34 laps around the 4.304-kilometer track and became the man to beat in a session marked by a red flag and tire tests as part of Pirelli’s development for the 2025 season.
With just 13 minutes left in the session, George Russell caught the curb in the “esses” section, lost control of his Mercedes, and crashed into the barrier to bring out a red flag. The British driver was able to get out of the car on his own and was taken to the track’s medical center for a routine check-up.
After a 23-minute pause while the barriers were being repaired, the drivers got back the track to continue looking for the optimum setup.
The next best time after Sainz was clocked by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, 0.178 seconds behind, followed by VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda, 0.179 seconds back (one thousandth of a second behind Piastri). Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren) set the fourth and fifth fastest times, respectively.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Valtteri Bottas (Stake), Mexico’s Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing), and Liam Lawson (VCARB).
The second free practice session lasted 90 minutes, 30 minutes longer than usual, with the last half hour devoted to Pirelli tire testing as the manufacturer continues developing the compounds that will be used next season.
Max Verstappen was forced to stop his RB20 halfway through the session due to problems with the power unit, so he was not able to set a competitive time. The Argentinean Franco Colapinto, driving for Williams, set the 15th fastest time.
The first practice session was led by George Russell and saw four Latin drivers taking to the track: Sergio Perez, Franco Colapinto, Pato O’Ward (McLaren), and Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin). The session featured a significant number of reserve/test drivers, including Oliver Bearman (Ferrari), Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), and Robert Shwartzman (Stake).