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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.

   
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Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 24

1'17.998

  198.651
2 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 25

+0.317

1'18.315

0.317 197.847
3 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull 24

+0.701

1'18.699

0.384 196.881
4 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 14

+0.841

1'18.839

0.140 196.532
5 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 18

+0.906

1'18.904

0.065 196.370
6 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 24

+0.960

1'18.958

0.054 196.235
7 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 22

+0.998

1'18.996

0.038 196.141
8 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari 24

+1.050

1'19.048

0.052 196.012
9 New Zealand L. Lawson RB 30 RB Red Bull 26

+1.095

1'19.093

0.045 195.901
10 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 23

+1.096

1'19.094

0.001 195.898
11 Argentina F. Colapinto Williams 43 Williams Mercedes 21

+1.111

1'19.109

0.015 195.861
12 Italy A. Antonelli Mercedes 12 Mercedes Mercedes 19

+1.202

1'19.200

0.091 195.636
13 Mexico P. O'Ward McLaren 29 McLaren Mercedes 21

+1.297

1'19.295

0.095 195.401
14 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 Haas Ferrari 23

+1.337

1'19.335

0.040 195.303
15 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 20

+1.342

1'19.340

0.005 195.291
16 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 18

+1.602

1'19.600

0.260 194.653
17 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 7

+1.814

1'19.812

0.212 194.136
18 Brazil F. Drugovich Aston Martin Racing 34 Aston Martin Mercedes 17

+1.821

1'19.819

0.007 194.119
19 Israel R. Shwartzman Sauber 97 Sauber Ferrari 18

+1.990

1'19.988

0.169 193.709
20 United Kingdom O. Bearman Ferrari 38 Ferrari Ferrari 7

+3.258

1'21.256

1.268 190.686
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