Carlos Sainz Jnr put Ferrari fastest at the end of the first practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix as technical problems affected many in the field.
Sainz’s best time of a 1’20.707 was half a tenth quicker than team mate Charles Leclerc, with the two Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen third and fourth having set identical times to each other.
It was a clear, warm start to the weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with temperatures sitting in the mid-20C range as the cars spilled out onto the circuit.
There were five stand-in drivers taking part in the opening hour, with F2 driver Jack Doohan getting his first run in a grand prix session in Esteban Ocon’s Alpine. Pietro Fittipaldi took over Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, Nyck de Vries stepped into George Russell’s Mercedes, Liam Lawson got a drive in Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri and Logan Sargeant returned to drive future team mate Alexander Albon’s Williams.
There was a rush out onto the clear circuit, with teams wasting no time to get out on track. Leclerc’s first run out was ended early when his team called him in due to a puncture, while Lawson had a shock at the end of the main straight when his brakes reportedly failed, forcing him to return back to the garage.
There were also problems for local favourite Perez who was delayed with bodywork damage to his Red Bull, while Daniel Ricciardo was side-lined by braking problems which required McLaren to pull apart his car to try and fix. Mick Schumacher’s car also received attention on its rear wing for an apparently problem with the DRS flap.
World champion Verstappen set the early pace on a 1’22.291 on the hard compound tyres ahead of team mate Perez. After having his punctured hard tyres replaced, Leclerc was sent out on soft tyres and went comfortably fastest with a 1’20.753 as many others began to switch to the softer compound.
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Red Bull headed out onto the track with soft tyres for the first time, but Verstappen’s first flying lap was ruined when he spun at turn nine. Sainz went fastest of all on the soft tyres with a 1’20.707 just under half a tenth ahead of his team mate, before the two Red Bulls went third and fourth for Perez and Verstappen, respectively, after Verstappen’s second attempt at a flying lap.
The session was temporarily halted when Fittipaldi was told to stop his Haas in the second corner. After a delay of five minutes, the session eventually resumed…
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