Vesti leads Mexico City FP1 rookies as Tsolov makes public debut in current F1 car

Fred Vesti led the rookie field in Friday's first practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, finishing third overall and 0.074 seconds behind Kimi Antonelli. Ferrari alone fielded both of its race drivers.

It was Vesti's third FP1 outing for Mercedes in Mexico City, after appearances there in 2023 and 2025. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord called it Vesti's most convincing FP1 yet and said he raised his level each time he took part in one.

Nikola Tsolov made his first public appearance in a current F1 car after earlier TPC running at Imola. The Bulgarian finished 12th, 0.126 seconds behind Arvid Lindblad. He said the car's electrical side and engine were new to him, but he expected to improve as he learned.

Tsolov's run drew extra interest because Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane had recently said he was in the frame for a possible 2027 race seat alongside Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad. Permane stressed it was not an audition: the team wanted feedback on the car and its changes, as well as Tsolov's contribution to the debrief.

Red Bull's Ayumu Iwasa was fifth, the only rookie to outpace a team-mate: he finished six places and 0.432 seconds ahead of Isack Hadjar. But power-unit problems compromised Hadjar's session, skewing the comparison.

Freddie Slater's session was cut short by a garage error: he left the pit lane with a cooling fan still attached, blocking a radiator inlet. Audi was fined €7,500. Slater managed only a brief, unrepresentative run at the end, finished 21st and was more than 1.3 seconds off Nico Hülkenberg's best. He said the lack of laps was frustrating but called it a historic day for Audi, saying the team had put its first junior driver in the car. Slater is scheduled for another practice appearance in São Paulo next week.

Alpine's Gabriele Mini finished 14th; he said the late Virtual Safety Car left him with just one push lap on soft tyres. Ryo Hirakawa was 15th, 0.570 seconds behind Ollie Bearman, while McLaren's Leonardo Fornaroli finished 17th after running off track more than once and flat-spotting his soft tyres.

Aston Martin's Jak Crawford stopped on track with an ERS issue after 15 laps and finished 19th, one place ahead of Williams rookie Luke Browning. Cadillac's Colton Herta was 22nd and still needs 40 Super Licence points to progress to F1. He said he had tried to focus on driving rather than worry about the licence question that had followed his career for years.