The advantage handed to Mercedes over Red Bull and Ferrari in Mexican GP practice

George Russell topped the times at the end of the opening day of practice for Formula 1’s 2022 Mexican Grand Prix, where Ferrari’s strong start was undone by Charles Leclerc’s FP2 crash during the second in-season Pirelli tyre test in a week.

Ferrari led the way in a 1-2 in opening practice on Friday afternoon, but Leclerc’s off mid-way through the second session – elongated to 90-minutes to allow for the extra running on Pirelli’s 2023 compounds – means Ferrari was left with a long repair job after he badly damaged the rear of his F1-75.

As it took nearly 20 minutes for the barriers to be repaired after his shunt in FP2, the data Pirelli required for its test was reduced. So too was the additional FP2 running on the 2022 tyres afforded to drivers that sat out FP1 in place of rookie drivers.

Nevertheless, this added time that Russell enjoyed will still provide Mercedes with a key advantage against Red Bull and Ferrari. This comes on a weekend where the Silver Arrows squad is hoping the unique high-altitude demands of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez track will mean it can get among F1 2022’s frontrunners for the win.

This, and more, is what we learned at the Mexico City track on Friday.

The story of the day:

In FP1, Sainz and Leclerc led the way – the former topping the times with a 1m20.707s. Sainz had the easier start to the session of the pair as Leclerc missed the early laps getting up to speed on the hard tyres – used by all the rest of the field on the initially very dirty track surface – due to an early puncture.

But Leclerc came back out after 22 minutes of the one-hour practice session immediately using the softs, which he took to the head of the times before Sainz pipped him later on. Leclerc’s FP1 best came on a second flier in a three-lap stint, while Sainz’s only qualifying simulation was his first and only flying effort on the softs.

At Red Bull, which had topped the early slower running on the hards, Perez ended up third – but also set his best time after the peak condition of his soft rubber had passed. After missing the Turn 1 apex, the home hero swiftly abandoned his initial effort on that compound, then produced two fliers on laps two and five of a six-lap stint – the latter resulting in his 0.120s gap to Sainz.

Verstappen finished fourth in FP1 – also 0.120s…