Charles Leclerc set the pace in first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix, topping a session in which a large number of reserve and junior drivers took to the track in place of regular race drivers.

Leclerc ahead of Antonelli, with Vesti third

The Ferrari driver posted a best lap of 1:18.128 on the soft tire, finishing 0.659 seconds ahead of Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, who was second with a 1:18.787. Leclerc’s time came on a set of softs with 16 laps on them, and Antonelli also set his benchmark on softs of the same age.

The biggest surprise of the session came in third place, where Frederik Vesti, making his latest Friday appearance for Mercedes, recorded a 1:18.861. That was 0.733 seconds off Leclerc and only 0.074 seconds behind Antonelli. Vesti was driving in place of George Russell and completed the lap on a set of softs with just eight laps of use.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari with a 1:18.865, a mere four thousandths of a second behind Vesti and 0.737 seconds off his teammate. That put both Ferraris in the top four.

Top ten and the rest of the field

Ayumu Iwasa was fifth with a 1:19.112, 0.984 seconds off the pace, and set his time on the medium tire. Pierre Gasly was sixth for Alpine with a 1:19.209, followed by Fernando Alonso in seventh on 1:19.356 on the medium and Oscar Piastri in eighth on 1:19.376, 1.248 seconds off Leclerc.

Oliver Bearman was ninth on 1:19.412 on the hard tire and Arvid Lindblad tenth on 1:19.477 on the medium, completing a top ten covered by 1.349 seconds.

Isack Hadjar was eleventh on 1:19.545, ahead of Nikola Tsolov in twelfth on 1:19.603 and Nico Hulkenberg in thirteenth on 1:19.608. Alpine’s Gabriele Mini, making his first Friday appearance, was fourteenth on 1:19.945, ahead of Haas reserve Ryo Hirakawa on 1:19.981 and Carlos Sainz on 1:20.006.

Leonardo Fornaroli, driving for McLaren in place of Lando Norris, was seventeenth on 1:20.234, with Sergio Perez eighteenth on 1:20.394. Aston Martin’s Jak Crawford was nineteenth on 1:20.802, followed by Luke Browning of Williams on 1:20.868.

Audi’s Freddie Slater, who was making his debut on an F1 race weekend, was next on 1:20.944. Colton Herta of Cadillac was last of the 22 runners on 1:21.364, 3.236 seconds from the pace.

Conditions and absentees

The session ran in dry conditions, with the air temperature at 23.9 degrees Celsius and the track at 45.7, and no rain. Max Verstappen was not among the drivers on the timing screen.