F1: Bottas leads Mercedes 1-2 in opening practice in Mexico City
In the F1 championship fight between Mercedes and Red Bull, and between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the Mercedes F1 team has drawn first blood.
Valtteri Bottas turned the fastest lap of 1m18.341s in opening practice for the Mexican GP to lead his Mercedes F1 teammate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.076s.
3rd and 4th were the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, 0.123s and 0.269s back respectively.
Pierre Gasly wound up ‘best of the rest’ in a credible fifth, the Frenchman having excelled all season – especially over one lap. Ferrari wound up with two cars in the top 10, although Leclerc had an adventurous session with a number of small moments and one rather bigger one – backing his Scuderia into the wall early on.
And the other news – Tsunoda and Stroll will both take grid penalties for the race after taking on a raft of PU components that pushes them over their allocation for the season.
Practice 1 Results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:18.341 | +0.000s | 28 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:18.417 | +0.076s | 24 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:18.464 | +0.123s | 28 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:18.610 | +0.269s | 20 |
| 5 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:18.985 | +0.644s | 23 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:19.463 | +1.122s | 26 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine Renault | 1:19.656 | +1.315s | 26 |
| 8 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:19.667 | +1.326s | 20 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 1:19.759 | +1.418s | 20 |
| 10 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:19.858 | +1.517s | 27 |
| 11 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:20.011 | +1.670s | 30 |
| 12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:20.026 | +1.685s | 26 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:20.030 | +1.689s | 27 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren Mercedes | 1:20.273 | +1.932s | 25 |
| 15 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 1:20.301 | +1.960s | 26 |
| 16 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:20.344 | +2.003s | 27 |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 1:20.517 | +2.176s | 23 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 1:21.580 | +3.239s | 23 |
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas Ferrari | 1:22.144 | +3.803s | 27 |
| 20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas Ferrari | 1:22.819 | +4.478s | 24 |