Leclerc’s Ferrari Sets The Early Pace In Mexico City

MEXICO CITY — Charles Leclerc underlined Ferrari’s status as favorites to win this weekend by topping both practice sessions on the opening day of the 2026 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, which welcomed 102,122 fans.

The 29-year-old Monegasque driver, who questioned his team’s ‘favourite’ status before the day began, set a fastest time of 1 minute 17.827 seconds to edge out McLaren’s Lando Norris – winner here last year – by 0.103s in the second session at the 4.404-km circuit.

The session’s main incident was a collision between Max Verstappen in the Red Bull and Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls. As Verstappen tried to force his way past at Turn 15, Lawson resisted. The two clashed, scattering debris across the track and bringing out a red flag to halt proceedings.

Asked if it was just an unlucky moment, five-time Mexico winner Verstappen said: “I don’t think it’s unlucky, maybe not very smart behaviour. At the end of the day it’s not going to change my weekend. But if I were him, maybe I would act a little bit smarter.” Verstappen had to complete the hour with a damaged floor.

While Leclerc was flying, his team-mate Lewis Hamilton was grounded: the seven-time world champion got on the radio to say, ‘Something’s wrong, I lost all power through Turn 13,’ halfway through the session. He was immediately told to stop the #44 car with suspected power unit problems, which will be investigated once the team has the Ferrari back in the garage.

George Russell, who earlier this weekend admitted that Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli has been ‘on a different level’ for most of this season, got the better of the young Italian to finish third, with Verstappen and Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar next up. Hadjar complained of ‘the biggest bottoming of all time’ near the end of a difficult hour.

The post Leclerc’s Ferrari Sets The Early Pace In Mexico City appeared first on SPEED SPORT.