Mexican GP FP1: Carlos Sainz fastest in FP1, as many drivers struggled with reliability issues

Top six drivers separated by 0.2s

Carlos Sainz topped the first practice session of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend. A few hours before the event, the FIA announced Red Bull’s verdict of a $7M fine and a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time. Sainz was minutely ahead of his teammate Leclerc and the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso weren’t far behind, as only 0.2s separated the top six drivers.

Five rookie drivers took the grid in FP1

Five rookie drivers were given a chance to drive in FP1. Pietro Fittipaldi for Alfa Romeo, Logan Sargeant for Williams, Nick De Vries for Mercedes, Liam Lawson for Alpha Tauri, and Jack Doohan for Alpine took the track in FP1.

FP1 was an important session for the whole grid, as FP2 will see the testing of Pirelli 2023 tyres. Most teams started the session on hard tyres after switching to softs, where the fastest times of the session came.

Reliability issues for drivers

The session saw drivers facing teething difficulties with their cars. Daniel Ricciardo, early on, said to the pit that there was some issue with the car brakes. Zhou Guanyu had to stop his vehicle at the pitlane entry. He reported on the radio that his car had some problem, and he couldn’t upshift. He turned off the vehicle to protect the engine.

Two Red Flags in the first practice session

Pietro Fittipaldi’s engine started to smoke as soon as he left the pitlane. Fittipaldi had to stop the car immediately. He managed to complete only nine laps in the session. The session was Red Flagged to remove the stranded car into the pits. This means that Kevin Magnussen will face a grid penalty as he will take a new power unit. Jack Doohan also saw his FP1 session time cut short. As a precaution, the Alpine team saw some anomalies on their screens and decided not to let Doohan go out on the track.

Liam Lawson’s Alpha Tauri brakes went smoking hot

Liam Lawson caused the second Red Flag of the session as his Alpha Tauri brakes went extremely hot, and smoke emanated from it. The Marshalls quickly extinguished the flames coming out from his brakes. FP2 session will see the regular lineup return to the grid. The session will see 15 of the 20 drivers test the Pirelli 2023 tyres.

FP1 Classification