Leclerc Dominates Mexico City GP First Practice Ahead of Antonelli

Charles Leclerc put Ferrari on top in first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix, lapping 0.659s clear of championship-elect Kimi Antonelli and underlining why the Scuderia arrive at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as the team to beat.

Ferrari's small turbo package is expected to thrive in the rarefied air of high altitude, and the early numbers backed that up. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth after a scruffy soft-tyre lap, though his team-mate's pace should lift a team chasing only its third victory of the season.

Why it matters:

The session offered the first real read on the weekend's pecking order — and it points to Ferrari as the primary threat to Antonelli on the day he could seal the drivers' title. The Mercedes driver needs only a top-nine finish on Sunday to get the job done, so a half-second deficit in practice is unlikely to worry him unduly.

The details:

• Leclerc's margin of 0.659s over Antonelli was the largest gap at the front, with Hamilton a further few tenths back in fourth.
• Ten rookies took over race seats as teams exploited the circuit's relative simplicity and the absence of a Sprint format to satisfy the rule requiring a young driver in both cars at least twice this season. Only Ferrari ran its full-time line-up.
• Mercedes reserve Frederik Vesti, runner-up in the 2023 Formula 2 championship, was the pick of the newcomers in third, less than a tenth adrift of Antonelli.
• Ayumu Iwasa impressed in Max Verstappen's Red Bull in fifth, within a second of the pace on the medium compound.

What's next:

Second practice later on Friday should give a cleaner picture once the regular drivers return and teams switch focus to race simulations. Qualifying on Saturday will reveal whether Ferrari's altitude advantage is genuine or merely a product of the unusual session, with Antonelli's title bid set to define Sunday afternoon.