F1 Mexico City Grand Prix 2025: Free Practice 1 Results And Report As Rookies Take Over

Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in opening practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix as Formula 1's rookie runs took precedence.

The Ferrari driver set a benchmark of a 1:18.300s to finish ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Nico Hulkenberg.

The session was largely unrepresentative on a green, dusty track surface and with no fewer than nine drivers swapping their seats for obligatory rookie runs.

A strong start to the weekend with some good data gathered 📈 pic.twitter.com/NDzGQYT0Oj
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 24, 2025

Among the nine regular race drivers sat on the sidelines for the hour were four of the top six in the drivers' standings, with only Oscar Piastri and Leclerc on track out of those.

Isack Hadjar, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon, Franco Colapinto, Fernando Alonso, Antonelli, and the two Sauber drivers were the other regulars to remain in their cockpits.

With much of the running completed on the harder two compounds of tires, there were only a handful of soft-tire runs to try and figure out where the pace could lie heading into the rest of the weekend.

It was Leclerc who was fastest when the checkered flag fell with Antonelli second and Hulkenberg

Piastri was fourth and got away with a slide that took him off track at the Esses, one of three yellow flags thrown in the session.

Gabriel Bortoleto was fifth in the second Sauber ahead of the first of the rookie run drivers, Arvid Linblad, who was mightily impressive for Red Bull as he aims for a seat next season, likely with Racing Bulls. The Briton was summoned for alleged impeding during a session where technical issues wiped out GPS telemetry in the paddock.

Arvid Lindblad, Red Bull, Mexico FP1 — Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Ocon was seventh in the lead Haas ahead of Tsunoda and Colapinto, with Albon rounding out the top 10 and the first of those outside a second of Leclerc's time.

Hadjar was another to run off-track but escape without drama and was 11th fastest, with Alonso 12th in the Aston Martin.

Home hero and IndyCar star Patricio O'Ward made his FP1 return to McLaren to the delight of the Mexican fans, setting the 13th fastest time.

The third-quickest rookie was Mercedes' Frederik Vesti, with Alpine's Paul Aron next. The Estonian is in a direct battle with Colapinto for the second seat alongside Pierre Gasly in 2026.

Ryo Hirakawa could be called upon by Haas to join Ocon if Oliver Bearman receives a ban for accumulating 12 penalty points this weekend and made his mark with the 16th fastest time, with Ayumu Iwasa 17th in the second Racing Bull.

Luke Browning was back for Williams and was 18th fastest, ahead of American F2 rival Jak Crawford for Aston Martin. Ferrari Le Mans winner Antonio Fuoco was 20th for the Scuderia.

FP2 will see title protagonists Lando Norris and Max Verstappen return to action, as well as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

F1 Mexico City Grand Prix 2025: FP1 results

Position / Driver / Team	Gap [s]
1. Charles Leclerc / Ferrari	1:18.300
2. Kimi Antonelli / Mercedes	+0.107
3. Nico Hulkenberg / Sauber	+0.380
4. Oscar Piastri / McLaren	+0.404
5. Gabriel Bortoleto / Sauber	+0.536
6. Arvid Lindblad / Red Bull	+0.617
7. Esteban Ocon / Haas	+0.658
8. Yuki Tsunoda / Red Bull	+0.710
9. Franco Colapinto / Alpine	+0.951
10. Alex Albon / Williams	+1.004
11. Isack Hadjar / Racing Bulls	+1.029
12. Fernando Alonso / Aston Martin	+1.092
13. Patricio O'Ward / McLaren	+1.300
14. Frederick Vesti / Mercedes	+1.309
15. Paul Aron / Alpine	+1.482
16. Ryo Hirakawa / Haas	+1.693
17. Ayumu Iwasa / Racing Bulls	+1.773
18. Luke Browning / Williams	+1.930
19. Jak Crawford / Aston Martin	+1.991
20. Antonio Fuoco / Ferrari	+2.474

The Latest F1 News