Mexico City Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc sets pace in first practice for Ferrari

Charles Leclerc dominated the first practice session at the Mexico City Grand Prix, finishing ahead of the competition by a significant margin. The Ferrari driver was 0.659 seconds faster than Kimi Antonelli, who is currently leading the championship and is in contention to secure the title this weekend. Mercedes reserve driver Frederik Vesti took George Russell's place and finished third, while Leclerc's teammate Lewis Hamilton came in fourth.

Ayumu Iwasa, stepping in for Max Verstappen at Red Bull, completed the top five. Antonelli, who missed media commitments on Thursday, is aiming for his first drivers' title and needs to place ninth or better in the race on Sunday to clinch it. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Freddie Slater made his Formula 1 debut with Audi but faced reliability issues, finishing 21st. The practice session saw Ferrari as the only team with both drivers present, while others opted for rookie replacements.