The Mexican Grand Prix is always special due to the passion of the local fans, who supported Sergio Pérez and his Red Bull with all their might. In this new edition of the appointment at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, everyone will try to make the local win for the first time on the track that returned to the calendar in 2015, since his team is no longer at stake, just like his teammate Max Verstappen , who is already two-time world champion.
In the hour of action on the asphalt, the Ferraris were placed as the favorites, at least in the first stages of the test, since those from Maranello dominated with a double in first and second position, with Carlos Sainz, as in United States, ahead of Charles Leclerc. However, those from Milton Keynes were placed very close, with a tie to the thousandth between Checo Pérez and the Dutchman who equaled the victory record in a single course held by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
Behind, the reborn Lewis Hamilton and his updated W13 were fifth, closely followed by the only Alpine with a regular driver, Fernando Alonso, who was less than two tenths off the time of his Prancing Horse compatriot. They were followed by Valtteri Bottas, but not far behind were Lando Norris’s McLaren, Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri and Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin.
Results of Free Practice 1 (FP1) of the 2022 F1 Mexican Grand Prix
| Cla | Pilot | Chassis | laps | Weather | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
ferrari | 25 | 1’20,707 | |
| 2 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
Ferrari | 20 | 1’20.753 | 0.046 |
| 3 |  Sergio Pérez |
 |
Red Bull | 22 | 1’20.827 | 0.120 |
| 4 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
Red Bull | 22 | 1’20.827 | 0.120 |
| 5 |  Lewis Hamilton |
 |
Mercedes | 17 | 1’20.849 | 0.142 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
Alpine | 26 | 1’20.899 | 0.192 |
| 7 |  Valtteri Bottas |
 |
Alfa Romeo | 23 | 1’21.083 | 0.376 |
| 8 | Lando Norris |
 |
McLaren | 21 | 1’21.120 | 0.413 |
| 9 |  Pierre Gasly |
 |
AlphaTauri | 25 | 1’21,310 | 0.603 |
| 10 |  Sebastian Vettel |
 |
Aston Martin | 24 | 1’21.525 | 0.818 |
| see results | ||||||
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Summary of Free Practice 1 (FP1) of the 2022 F1 Mexican Grand Prix
The action of the weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez began with a Sebastian Vettel who wanted to pay tribute to a fundamental person in his career, Dietrich Matezchitz , the one who was the founder of Red Bull and who gave him the opportunity to make the jump to the group of Milton Keynes. Dressed in a helmet reminiscent of the brand of energy drinks, he took to the track, although the rest soon copied the German, and all, with the hardest tires in the Pirelli range, began to roll.
The McLarens were placed in the lead in the first stages, although they were not significant at all due to the development of the asphalt. Although it was the first stages of the session, it was not without problems for Charles Leclerc, who had to go through the pitlane to change tires due to a puncture in one of his wheels.
After that, the Red Bulls, as is customary in the 2022 Formula 1 season, were placed at the top of the standings, with Max Verstappen ahead of local Sergio Pérez, who is looking for his victory at home. They were the only ones who fell below the 1:23 barrier, but since not even a quarter of an hour had passed and no one had put on a whiter tire, they were very unrepresentative records.
However, it was a very important FP1 for some on the circuit, such as for Jack Doohan , the son of the legendary motorcycling driver, who got into a single-seater of these characteristics for the first time in an official Grand Prix. His father, Mick, was excited as well as nervous to see his son at the controls of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, something similar to what happened in Haas with Pietro Fittipaldi , who replaced Kevin Magnussen, in AlphaTauri with Liam Lawson , at Williams with Logan Sargeant and at Mercedes with Nyck de Vries .
Before reaching the halfway point of the session that opened the weekend of the Mexican Grand Prix, where the important things have already been decided, except for the runner-up position, the vast majority of the participants returned to their garages to change the set-up, something vital on a track where the altitude of 2,200 meters above sea level modifies the behavior of single-seaters.
Some, like Leclerc, took the opportunity to mount a game of soft, and with him, the Monegasque was placed in the lead with a 1:21.546, although the biggest surprise came from Mick Schumacher, who came second just four tenths from the Ferrari with the same compound. However, the rest of the favorites were still missing, such as Sergio Pérez, who, encouraged by his enthusiastic public, tried to close that margin of about three seconds between the soft and hard.
The Mexican did not manage to make a good first lap, but the others did, such as Valtteri Bottas, who snatched second place from Mick Schumacher, but it did not last long since Lando Norris improved the time of the Finn from Alfa Romeo. Behind, Fernando Alonso had not yet set a time on the softs, the same as his compatriot, Carlos Sainz, who entered the track when the half-hour session was over.
After the first half hour, Checo Pérez finally made a competitive record, although far from the leader, three tenths, which earned him to place himself third for a moment, and it was so because, surprisingly, Fernando Alonso climbed to second position, a tenth and a half behind Leclerc. The scare was given by Max Verstappen, who on his first attempt made a mistake in the linked sections of the second sector and almost hit the wall, but was able to save the car and return to the box intact.
It was there when Carlos Sainz crossed the finish line to stop the stopwatch at 1:20.707 to lead FP1, with 46 thousandths of an advantage over his teammate from the Maranello team. After that, Guanyu Zhou was left standing at the end of the pitlane, causing the stewards to quickly decide whether to red flag or not.
It wasn’t necessary, as Pietro Fittipaldi stalled at the first chicane and that’s when the red flag was shown to stop the session with less than 20 minutes to go before the checkered flag. Shortly after the activity resumed, and many left for that last round that would provide the sensations for the classification, although the classification changed little, since the vast majority mounted hard tires to test the race pace.
Not without another scare courtesy of Lawson, who was stopped in the last sector with his AlphaTauri on fire, presumably from the brakes. Once again, the red flag waved, with the stewards on the track, fire extinguisher in hand, to dismiss this first free practice session dominated by Ferrari.
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