KEY NUMBERS after the opening day in Mexico

On the back of his dominant display last time out at Austin, Max Verstappen made his intentions for the weekend clear, setting the fastest time at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at the end of the first day of practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Times - The Red Bull Racing driver posted a best time of 1’17’’392, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, fastest in the first session, second quickest just 0’’153 slower. Kimi Antonelli, second in FP1 for Mercedes, was third fastest, 0’’174 behind the Dutchman. Verstappen’s two rivals for the Drivers’ title, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, ended the day fourth and 12th fastest, respectively.

The target - As is always the case at this event, lap times are expected to drop significantly over the next two days as the track rubbers-in and the dirt is cleaned away. There is still some way to go to match Carlos Sainz’s 2024 pole time set in the Ferrari of 1’15’’946.

Rookie drivers - A record nine rookies took part in FP1, Frederik Vesti (Mercedes), Patricio O’Ward (McLaren), Ayumu Iwasa (Racing Bulls), Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari). Luke Browning (Williams), Paul Aron (Alpine), Ryo Hirakawa (Haas), Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) and Arvid Lindblad (Red Bull Racing), the latter being the best of the bunch, sixth fastest. This left just Sauber to run both its regular drivers in the first hour of practice.

Conditions - They and their more experienced colleagues had to contend with the usual challenges of the Mexican track, most of them related to its altitude – low downforce, low grip because of the dirty surface and track temperatures 6 degrees higher than last year in FP1.

Tyres - Hadjar, Ocon and Hulkenberg opted to start on the Medium tyre, while the rest of the field went with the Hard. While the C2 did most of the work in the first session, with teams not willing to run the softer compounds while the track was at its greenest, by the end of the day it was the Medium C4 that completed the most laps, 37% of the total from all drivers, as teams used it to assess long run pace.

The Soft which all drivers used to set their best times did 34% of the work, with the C2 doing the rest.