Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the pace ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Kick Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg in an opening practicing session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix that featured a host of young driving talent as teams handed test and reserve drivers a free practice outing.

F1’s regulations specify that every full-time driver is required to make way for a rookie – viewed as someone who has started no more than two Grands Prix – in two practice sessions across the 2025 season and in Mexico City nine of the 10 teams made a seat available, with only Kick Sauber fielding both regular race drivers. 

And when the green lights went on at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of the session, the rookies wasted no time in making the most of the opportunity with Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco, Racing Bulls’ Ayumu Iwasa, Williams’ Luke Browning, Mercedes’ Fredrik Vesti, Alpine’s Paul Aron, McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, Aston Martin’s Jak Crawford and Haas’ Ryo Hirakawa taking to the track alongside the more experienced drivers. 

It was Haas’ Esteban Ocon who led the way in the opening minutes with the Frenchman posting a lap of 1:21.884 on Medium C4 tyres, 0.055s ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who like most other was on the Hard tyres as teams looked for early data on the C2 chosen for this round by Pirelli. 

Piastri beat Ocon’s early P1 time with a lap of 1:21.570 but then Isack Hadjar, also running Medium tyres took his Racing Bulls car to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:21.091. Ocon then returned to the top of the order with a lap of 1:20.934. Hadjar briefly returned to top spot, but Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli then jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:20.035. 

As the session neared the halfway mark, Piastri bolted on a set of Soft compound C5 Pirelli tyres moved to top spot with a lap of 1:19.035, a full second clear of Antonelli. Leclerc then mirrored the Australian’s tyre choice and he powered past the McLaren driver to take P1 with a lap of 1:18.895 before using a second attempt to improve to 1:18.380m, a tenth ahead of Antonelli. Nico Hülkenberg then put in a strong lap to take P3, 0.380s off top spot. 

Piastri hung on to fourth place at the flag ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in the other Sauber. 

Arvid Lindblad, currently lying seventh in the FIA Formula 2 Championship standings and taking over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing RB21 for the session, ended up as the top placed rookie in P6. Behind him, Ocon finished in seventh ahead of current Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda, while Franco Colapinto was ninth for Alpine. The top 10 order was rounded out by Williams’ Alex Albon. 

With Hadjar in P11 ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, the next best placed rookie was Indycar regular Pato O’Ward who was 13th in Lando Norris’ McLaren. He was followed by Vesti, Aron, Hirakawa, Iwasa, Browning, Crawford and in last place, Fuoco. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:18.380 29 197.683
2 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:18.487 0.107 35 197.413
3 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.760 0.380 27 196.729
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.784 0.404 31 196.669
5 Gabirel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.916 0.536 28 196.340
6 Arvid Lindblad Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:18.997 0.617 26 196.139
7 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:19.038 0.658 29 196.037
8 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:19.090 0.710 29 195.908
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:19.331 0.951 28 195.313
10 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:19.384 1.004 33 195.182
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:19.409 1.029 32 195.121
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:19.472 1.092 26 194.966
13 Patricio O'Ward McLaren/Mercedes 1:19.680 1.300 30 194.457
14 Frederik Vesti Mercedes 1:19.689 1.309 32 194.435
15 Paul Aron Alpine/Renault 1:19.862 1.482 29 194.014
16 Ryō Hirakawa Haas/Ferrari 1:20.073 1.693 27 193.503
17 Ayumu Iwasa Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:20.153 1.773 29 193.310
18 Luke Browning Williams/Mercedes 1:20.310 1.930 31 192.932
19 Jak Crawford Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:20.371 1.991 29 192.785
20 Antonio Fuoco Ferrari 1:20.854 2.474 29 191.634