Charles Leclerc sweeps practice in strong start for Ferrari, Max Verstappen crashes with Liam Lawson as Kiwi comes under pressure to retain his seat, Colton Herta’s chances of replacing Valtteri Bottas boosted, Frederik Vesti in the Cadillac frame, driver market, silly season

Charles Leclerc did nothing to dampen expectations that Ferrari is the favourite in Mexico City when he swept Friday practice at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Though his final margin was narrow, at just over 0.1s, the Monegasque never looked anything other than in control.

Ferrari’s losses down the long front straight were more than offset by the car’s prowess in the fiddly slow corners that define lap time at this track.

Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K | Get Kayo now >

The car’s small turbo, which gives it far better kick out of the turns, and its already class-leading aero package, which is generating more downforce despite the thinner air, looks like the combination to beat at this stage of the weekend.

The only possible concern is with Lewis Hamilton’s engine, which was shut off as a precaution early in the session just as he was set to complete his fastest lap.

Had Hamilton been able to complete a lap with all three of his best sectors — the last of which was set with the medium tyre — he would have been second and only 0.087s slower than Leclerc — though it’s a decent bet he would have been quicker given drivers were able to set multiple laps on one set of softs.

“I was feeling really good in the car,” Hamilton enthused. “It’s just my luck.

“We did a really good job in getting the set-up in a better place. Just really unfortunate.

“I think we’re really competitive this weekend as a team.

“I don’t think I need to make many changes to the set-up. It will probably be much the same because we were very quick.

“I already had a loss of power earlier on in the lap and we were still quick.

“I’ll give it everything tomorrow and just try to do the best with whatever I have.”

Behind Norris was George Russell by just 0.03s, with presumptive champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli 0.111s further back.

Red Bull Racing teammates Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were 0.3s and 0.4s respectively off the pace.

That makes four constructors separated by just over 0.3s — and given how quickly this track evolves and how easy it is to make a mistake in the thin air, right now pole looks like anyone’s game.

McLAREN IN PROMISING FORM DESPITE PIASTRI OUTLIER LAP

McLaren ended the day in reasonable shape — perhaps better shape, in fact, than expected.

One of McLaren’s weaknesses is drag down the straights, but the thinner air punishes this less than at sea level.

To some extent its lack of downforce in low-speed corners is also equalised given every car is battling for grip in the thinner atmosphere.

Lando Norris ended the day second and just 0.103s off the pace.

Oscar Piastri, at what is historically among his worst circuits, was 10th and 0.642s off the pace.

The good news for Piastri, though, is that he’s clearly out of position relative to his speed.

What would have been his quickest lap was scuppered by a big slide through the final corner, leaving him to rely on his first time on softs. On the rapidly evolving track — the dust was visible in both sessions as it was kicked off the surface — it was never going to look competitive.

Had he put his best three sectors together, he would have set a time of 1m 18.169s — enough to have put him sixth — only 0.239s behind Norris and 0.342s off the pace.

That’s still further off his teammate than he would have liked given he had an extra session in the car — Norris sat out FP1 to give reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli a spin — but it’s respectable enough at Piastri’s weakest circuit in conditions that exacerbates the gaps in his skill set.

“I think we looked okay, to be honest,” he said. “I think we look all right.

“My lap on the soft in FP2 was pretty scruffy at the end, but I think it’s going reasonably well.

“It’s always very tricky here in Mexico with the conditions and the fact the track is improving quite quickly, but I feel like it was an okay day.”

He was cautious, though, that the picture could change significantly by qualifying.

“It’s very difficult to know (what it will look like), especially on a day like today, when so many people have missed FP1 — it’s always a little bit tricky,” he said. “But I feel like there’s plenty to learn and try to improve for tomorrow.”

VERSTAPPEN SLAMS ‘NOT VERY SMART’ LAWSON WITH SEAT ON THE LINE

The opening minutes of the second practice session featured a bizarre flashpoint between former teammates Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson, who came together in the final sector.

Both drivers appeared to be on push laps when Verstappen launched a move down Lawson’s inside.

They ran side by side into the stadium section, and Verstappen attempted to hang around Lawson’s outside into the tight left-hand turn 13, where he found himself run out of road.

He rejoined after cutting the right-hand turn 14, where the Racing Bulls and Red Bull Racing cars collided.

Lawson’s front wing took most of the damage, his car dropping enough debris to cause a brief red flag.

It would have been unusual for any two drivers, but the fact both are Red Bull employees made it all the more difficult to understand.

Verstappen was unsurprisingly unrepentant, but he ensured his criticism of Lawson didn’t miss.

“Maybe not very smart behaviour that he was trying to do there,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s not going to change my weekend, but if I were him, I would act a little bit smarter — also when you’re fighting for your seat, it’s not very smart behaviour.”

Neither Lawson nor teammate Arvid Lindblad has a seat for next year, but whereas rookie Lindblad’s renewal is considered a formality given his impressive maiden campaign, Lawson is considered vulnerable to Formula 2 rising star Nikola Tsolov.

Tsolov took over Lawson’s car in FP1 and did a solid job, finishing the hour 12th and only 0.126s behind Lindblad.

“He did a great job, honestly,” said Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane. “He did everything we asked of him … he ticked all the boxes.”

He was less glowing in his review of the Lawson-Verstappen incident.

“I think one word: unnecessary,” he said. “In a practice session, completely unnecessary, and I say that for both of them.

“It’s just not needed, and they can both do better.”

It might be the sort of incident that previous management — Helmut Marko, for example — might have considered an instant black mark, particularly given Lawson is already at risk.

But this remains a complex call.

Lawson is having an outstanding season. He’s clearly the best performing driver in the midfield, and with more than twice Lindblad’s points, he’s making the difference in what will be the team’s best-ever finish of fifth in the standings.

If this were any other team, he’d have already been re-signed.

Red Bull doesn’t seem to know yet if it wants Racing Bulls to be like any other team or whether it wants to continue churning through young drivers on behalf of Red Bull Racing regardless of its own results.

Regardless of how much blame Lawson shares for the incident, Verstappen is right about one thing: in these circumstances, the Kiwi didn’t play his hand particularly well.

CADILLAC REFUSES TO COMMIT TO BOTTAS AS HERTA LOOMS

He was 22nd in the order and 3.237s off the pace, but the most important number of Colton Herta’s FP1 session was his 30 completed laps, adding up to comfortably more than the 100km he needed to collect his 39th superlicence point.

Previous thinking that it would have been his 40th point was based on what turned out to be an error in the IndyCar 2025 championship rankings, which listed him as having finished sixth earlier this year when in fact he finished seventh on countback.

That means he’ll need one more practice outing — surely next weekend in Brazil — to confirm his F1 eligibility.

Cadillac is clearly planning for it.

Though Valtteri Bottas is contracted for next year, the team is contemplating his cancelling his deal to replace him with the American IndyCar winner. Though Herta has been unimpressive in his rookie Formula 2 campaign, Cadillac has been happier with his performances in F1 machinery during practice sessions — this was his fifth — and in private testing.

Though management had been coy about its driver situation before this week, the announcement that Sergio Pérez will stay with the team until the end of 2029 has turbocharged speculation, and team boss Marcin Budkowski has now all but admitted that Herta is under consideration for 2027.

“For future driver strategy, we are in no rush to either announce it or even decide it,” he told Sky Sports, adding that it was “important” to have an American driver in the team.

“But it’s also a question of timing,” he said. “The right driver, when the team is ready for it — we’re assessing this.

“The objective here this season was to have Colton as part of the team. He’s doing some simulator development for us. He’s done five FP1s now — one more than expected because in Monza unfortunately we had an issue on his car that prevented him from doing any meaningful running.

“We might do more runs with him to give him more experience. I think it’s part of the process.”

Herta said he wants to get to Formula 1 “as soon as possible”.

“A lot of discussions are happening, and a lot of stuff is going on outside of what I can control, so I just try to do my best inside the car and hope that shows for something.”

It puts the spotlight back on Bottas to respond — and Budkowski has given him objectives to meet to keep his seat.

“He did a really good race in Austin,” he said. “He was strong in qualifying. He was strong in the race. That’s what he needs to do race in, race out.

“We’ve seen that on weekends where he was on it, on the pace with Checo, sometimes even a bit quicker, but there or thereabouts in qualifying and very, very close in the race — we need more of that.”

But in what can only be read as a blow to the Finn, rumours in Mexico City suggest Cadillac is contemplating a second alternative to Bottas.

If not Herta, Mercedes reserve Frederik Vesti is reportedly in the mix.

Vesti was the 2023 Formula 2 runner-up but for the last two seasons has raced for Cadillac in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the United States, where he’s a multiple race winner.

Vesti took part in FP1 for Mercedes and finished the session third, just fractionally behind teammate Antonelli.

“The timing couldn’t be better, to be honest,” he said. “There are discussions about a seat, and I‘ve got my eyes on that seat.

“I believe I would be very, very good in that car, and to be in Formula 1 has been my goal ever since I started driving.

“I’m more motivated than ever, and I’m extremely hungry to make it onto the grid.”

The pressure is on Bottas — and it’s only ramping up.