2021 Mexican GP FP1 results: Bottas leads first practice session

Valtteri Bottas led Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton after the first practice session of the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix weekend. Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen was third-fastest at a dusty Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit which hadn’t been used by F1 since 2019.

Bottas edged out Hamilton by a narrow margin of 0.076 seconds, and Verstappen was 0.123 seconds slower than the leading Mercedes. The Finn’s fastest time of the practice session was clocked at 1 minute 18.341 seconds.

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Bottas leads Hamilton in first practice session of the 2021 Mexican GP

Lewis Hamilton of prepares to drive in the garage during practice session ahead of the 2021 Mexican GP. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Hamilton was reprimanded for the first time this season as he went off track at Turn 1 before rejoining between Turns 2 and 3. Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen was also reprimanded for a similar mistake at the same corner.

Local driver Sergio Perez set the fourth-fastest time of the practice session. However, the Mexican lost control and backed into the barriers in Turn 16. He had to spend almost 30 minutes in the garage as his team tended to the damage.

Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly clocked the fifth-fastest time in the practice session and was followed by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in sixth. Fernando Alonso clocked the seventh fastest time of the session for Alpine F1 followed by the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who slotted in eighth on the time-sheets.

Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon clocked the ninth fastest time, followed by Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel, who was tenth fastest in the practice session. Alpha Tauri's Yuki Tsunoda, who'd earned his first points finish at the US GP, clocked the 11th fastest time and was trailed by Raikkonen in P12. However, Tsunoda has been handed grid penalties for changing engine and supply train components.

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll clocked the 13th fastest time of the practice session. He too is staring at similar grid penalties as Tsunoda for switching to his fourth power unit. The Canadian was followed by two McLaren drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, who slotted in P14 and P15 on the time-sheets respectively.

Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi was 16th-fastest followed by Williams drivers George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, who were 17th and 18th respectively. Haas drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were 19th and 20th on the time-sheets, with the former leading the latter.

Max Verstappen driving during the practice session ahead of the 2021 Mexican GP. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Although the Mexican circuit is a strong ground for the Red Bull Racing team, the Mercedes drivers were able to set the early pace as almost everyone dealt with grip issues during the practice session.

While the McLarens began their day slowly, with their times being unrepresentative, the rest of the drivers struggled with track-limit violations and a dusty tarmac causing numerous off-track moments.