F1 Mexico GP: Russell tops FP1 as Albon and Bearman crash

George Russell went quickest in a twice red-flagged opening practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix, as Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman collided at Turn 9.

Russell set a 1m17.998s on the soft-tyre runs to go three tenths faster than Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in a stop-start session, with the first interruption coming five minutes in to clear a sliver of debris sat ahead of Turn 1.

Both Albon and Bearman were involved in the second; the Williams driver was on a push lap and caught a slowing Bearman at Turn 9 and lifted off, which caused his car to snap - he clipped the Ferrari reserve driver and went straight on into the wall.

The second red flag produced a 14-minute delay, and practice resumed with 24 minutes left on the clock.

Sainz had led the way after the opening runs on the hard tyre ahead of the second pause and then continued to headline the session on the soft tyre as he set a 1m18.573s lap to kick off the first performance runs of the weekend.

Russell found almost six tenths over the Spaniard to go faster, breaking into the 1m17s in the process, although Sainz got closer with a follow-up 1m18.315s time to close the gap.

RB's Yuki Tsunoda was third fastest in a jumbled order, 0.7 seconds off the pace, while Max Verstappen was a further tenth-and-a-half behind.

The Dutchman reported over the radio that he was suffering with a power unit issue, and slowly made his way back to the pits with over five minutes remaining and took no further part in the session.

Nico Hulkenberg was fifth fastest over Oscar Piastri, who contended that his McLaren felt 'pretty terrible' during his soft-tyre runs and subsequently put together a longer hard-tyre stint to gather further data.

Esteban Ocon was seventh, albeit a second off the pace, ahead of the closely-matched Valtteri Bottas, Liam Lawson, and Sergio Perez.

Future Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli enjoyed a longer FP1 session versus his Monza outing, taking Lewis Hamilton's car to 12th in the order - a tenth behind Franco Colapinto.

Pato O'Ward drove Lando Norris' car in his home FP1 session and was 13th fastest, while fellow stand-ins Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin), Robert Shwartzman (Sauber) and Bearman (Ferrari) propped up the order.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	24	1'17.998		198.651
2	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	25	+0.317 1'18.315	0.317	197.847
3	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	24	+0.701 1'18.699	0.384	196.881
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	14	+0.841 1'18.839	0.140	196.532
5	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	18	+0.906 1'18.904	0.065	196.370
6	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	24	+0.960 1'18.958	0.054	196.235
7	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	22	+0.998 1'18.996	0.038	196.141
8	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	24	+1.050 1'19.048	0.052	196.012
9	L. Lawson RB	30		RB	Red Bull	26	+1.095 1'19.093	0.045	195.901
10	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	23	+1.096 1'19.094	0.001	195.898
11	F. Colapinto Williams	43		Williams	Mercedes	21	+1.111 1'19.109	0.015	195.861
12	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	19	+1.202 1'19.200	0.091	195.636
13	P. O'Ward McLaren	29		McLaren	Mercedes	21	+1.297 1'19.295	0.095	195.401
14	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	23	+1.337 1'19.335	0.040	195.303
15	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	20	+1.342 1'19.340	0.005	195.291
16	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	18	+1.602 1'19.600	0.260	194.653
17	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	7	+1.814 1'19.812	0.212	194.136
18	F. Drugovich Aston Martin Racing	34		Aston Martin	Mercedes	17	+1.821 1'19.819	0.007	194.119
19	R. Shwartzman Sauber	97		Sauber	Ferrari	18	+1.990 1'19.988	0.169	193.709
20	O. Bearman Ferrari	38		Ferrari	Ferrari	7	+3.258 1'21.256	1.268	190.686
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