Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in first practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, where the Italian is poised to clinch his first world title.
Leclerc was 0.659 seconds quicker than Antonelli, who will secure the championship with a ninth-place finish, whatever anyone else does, BBC reported.
In theory, only a win by team-mate George Russell or Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton can stop him becoming champion on Sunday. Even then, Antonelli needs only ninth if Russell wins and 10th if Hamilton does.
Third quickest was Mercedes reserve Frederik Vesti, driving Russell’s car, ahead of Hamilton. Mercedes were one of 10 teams to use the session for a mandatory rookie run. Only Ferrari had both race drivers in their cars. Teams often pick Mexico City for the rookie runs, because the first session is traditionally unrepresentative thanks to the dirty track surface.
The rest of the top 10 had some unfamiliar names. Japan’s Ayumu Iwasa, in for Max Verstappen at Red Bull, was fifth fastest, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Haas driver Oliver Bearman and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.
It was a tougher session for Briton Freddie Slater, whose first outing at a grand prix weekend for Audi didn’t go to plan. Reliability problems limited him to 14 laps, about half a normal mileage, though he did get out for the final 20 minutes or so and set the 19th-fastest time. He was just behind another Briton, Luke Browning, having his latest run in the Williams.
American Colton Herta was 22nd. Cadillac are considering promoting the nine-time IndyCar winner to F1 next year in place of Valtteri Bottas. The FIA says he has now done enough miles to score the 40 points he needs for the superlicence required to race in F1.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc in June signed a new agreement with the team for a number of years ahead.
