#F1 #MexicanGP FP1: @GeorgeRussell63 quickest as #Bearman and #Albon crash.
George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W15, Free Practice 1, Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2024, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico. Image credit to Simon Galloway/LAT Images. Russell Mexican GP FP1, 2024 Mexican GP FP1, F1 Mexico City FP1, 2024 Mexico City GP FP1 Results.
Russell Mexican GP FP1 – Mercedes’ George Russell was quickest in a red flag-affected FP1 session at the Mexican GP as Alexander Albon and Oliver Bearman collided at turn nine. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was second and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top three.
Russell posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:17.998 on the C5 red side-walled softer compounds and was 0.317 seconds faster whilst Tsunoda was a further 0.701 seconds off in third.
Five reserve drivers got to take part in the opening practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with Pato O’Ward in place of Lando Norris at McLaren, Bearman in the Ferrari in-place of Charles Leclerc, Andrea Kimi Antonelli in-place of Sir Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, Felipe Drugovich in-place of Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin and Robert Shwartzman in-place of Zhou Guanyu at Sauber.
The first interruption of the session came five minutes in to clear debris on track ahead of the opening corner.
Both Albon and Bearman were involved in the second red flag; The Thai-Briton was on a flyer and caught a slow-travelling Ferrari of Bearman at turn nine and lifted off, which caused his Williams FW46 entry to suffer a snap of oversteer – he clipped the Ferrari reserve driver and went straight into the barriers.
Williams Team Principal James Vowles stated: “It’s frustrating more than anything else. Alex had to back out of it and lost the car, with the car effectively on the apex. The car doesn’t really step out there, he lifted off as he saw [Bearman] where he was going to be, but I need to understand it as no driver wants to be in the way. The team in the garage will be working flat out for the next two hours, but if the chassis is fine, we should be okay for FP2. We are on the back foot no doubt about it, we haven’t run the soft compound tyre yet.” Vowles concluded, Credit to F1 feed for the quote.
The second red flag had a 14-minute stoppage, and practice went green with 24 minutes left on the clock.
Sainz lead the way on the C3 white-side walled harder tyre on the opening stints ahead of the second red flag and then continued to top the session on the softer rubber as he posted a 1:18.573 to begin the first qualifying simulation runs of the weekend.
Russell almost found six tenths over the Ferrari driver to go quickest, breaking into the 1:17’s bracket in the process, although the Spaniard got closer with a follow-up 1:18.315 effort to close the gap.
RB’s Tsunoda was third overall in a jumbled pack, over 0.701 seconds adrift whilst championship leader Max Verstappen was a further tenth-and-a-half behind in fourth.
The Dutchman reported: “There’s something wrong with the engine, I have no power” and slowly made his way back to the pits with over five minutes left in the session and was forced to end FP1 early.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg was fifth in the classification and ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who commented that his MCL38 racer felt “pretty terrible” during his soft-tyre stints and opted to do a longer race run to gain further data for the race weekend.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon took seventh – almost a second off as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas placed eighth as RB’s Liam Lawson and home favourite Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten.
Williams Racing’s Franco Colapinto finished outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of Mercedes’ Antonelli who took 12th and McLaren’s O’Ward who came 13th in the classification whilst MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen followed in 14th.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took 15th and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who placed 16th and the aforementioned Williams’ Albon who ended the session 17th in the classification.
Aston Martin’s Drugovich was 18th as Sauber’s Shwartzman and the aforementioned Bearman finished at the rear.
You can see the full Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2024 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1248/mexico/practice/1
