Red Bull set the pace once more on the first day of the Mexico City Grand Prix as World Champion Max Verstappen and his rookie stand-in both caught the eye in the two free practice sessions at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where 101,327 people gathered this Friday.

Friday – the long and short of it

“The performance of the car has been better, and we need to keep the momentum going,” said Max Verstappen after winning in Texas – and he did just that with the top time in the second practice hour at AHR on Friday. The five-time Mexican Grand Prix winner clocked 1 minute 17.392 seconds, at an average of 200.206 km/h, to lead Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by a tenth-and-a-half and the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli by 0.174s.

In a session typically split between one-lap performance and long-run race pace, the bad news for everyone else is that Verstappen was not entirely thrilled. “On the short run on Softs we managed to do a good lap, everything else was bad,” said the 28-year-old Dutchman. “The Medium short run was not good, but the big problem is the long runs, where we seemed to struggle a lot, so that is of course a big problem for the race. It’s a tough one to sort.” 

Not an Oscar-winning performance?

The other big question from a quiet session: what’s going on at McLaren? Lando Norris was fourth-fastest, a quarter of a second behind Verstappen, but the real worry is Championship leader Oscar Piastri. The 24-year-old Australian driver could manage only 12th-fastest, comprehensively outpaced again by both Verstappen and his own teammate. Norris finished fourth and voiced some concern: “Normally we’re ahead on a Friday and everybody catches up on Saturday,” he admitted, “but we’re already a little bit behind.”

Piastri, four races without a win, remained calm despite his lowly finish: “It was an average lap on the Soft tires,” he acknowledged, “so I’m not surprised at the lap time, but overall it felt reasonable. There are plenty of things we’ve found: they’re all small things, but when you put them all together they’re not. It’s going to be tight, as always.”

Ferraris fast, Mercedes moderately happy

Ferrari carried their pace from Austin into the Mexico weekend as Charles Leclerc clocked the second-fastest time of FP2, with Lewis Hamilton fifth and just three-tenths off the Red Bull’s pace. But Leclerc, who has finished third in the last two Mexican races, was realistic: “It was okay,” he said to his pit crew, “but I suppose the McLarens are on another planet?” He has the star of the moment, Verstappen, to worry about as well as the papaya cars as Ferrari – winners here last year – pursue a first race win of 2025. Mercedes, meanwhile, had George Russell in sixth spot but complaining about his car’s handling, while Kimi Antonelli recovered from a slow start to his day to finish an impressive third as his late-season surge in form continues. 

The name’s Lindblad, Arvid Lindblad…

Leclerc had been fastest in the opening practice hour, but the name on everyone’s lips after that session was Arvid Lindblad. Taking over Verstappen’s Red Bull, the 18-year-old British/Swedish driver produced a stunning performance by finishing the session in sixth place. Currently racing with Campos in F2, with two wins in that category this year, Lindblad took his chance with both hands, finishing just 0.617 seconds behind Leclerc. Perhaps more significantly, he outpaced regular Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda, who ended up in eighth place as he fights to retain his seat for 2026.

“I think I did a decent lap at the end,” was how Lindblad summed it all up. “I was given the pep talk about not crashing the car, there was even more emphasis on that than usual,” he said as he was given charge of the title-chasing #1 machine. Asked about his chances of a fast-track to F1, he said: “I’m used to getting thrown in at the deep end and trying to figure it out, so I believe I’ll find a way.”

Rookies enjoy their day in the Mexican sun

Rookies – drivers who have not taken part in more than two Grands Prix – are the workhorses of the F1 teams, whose efforts in the simulator and on track prepare the way for the established stars to do their thing. Taking part in a Formula 1 session can be a reward for that endeavor – or a foundation-stone for the future. No fewer than nine of them were in action in FP1 at the Autódromo on Friday, and Lindblad was far and away the best of them. The other eight occupied the final eight places on the time-sheet, with Mexican favorite Pato O’Ward, running in Lando Norris’s McLaren, in 13th spot – exactly where he was in the corresponding session in 2024.

Twenty-year-old Texan Jak Crawford, deputizing for Lance Stroll in the #18 Aston Martin, was 19th-quickest but stressed how much he enjoyed the experience of returning to circuit where he raced in F4 six years ago. “I love the track”, he said, “I love the flow it has and how much you can use the kerbs to try different lines. I like the esses section in particular, I think that’s really cool. Driving through the stadium is also great and one of the most iconic sections of racetrack in the world.”

Mexico City Grand Prix PR