Max Verstappen made his intentions for the weekend clear, setting the fastest time at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at the end of the first day of practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Red Bull Racing driver posted a best time of 1'17''392, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, fastest in the first session, second quickest just 0''153 slower. Kimi Antonelli, second in FP1 for Mercedes, was third fastest, 0''174 behind the Dutchman. Verstappen's two rivals for the Drivers' title, McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, ended the day fourth and 12th fastest respectively.

A record nine rookies took part in FP1, Frederik Vesti (Mercedes), Patricio O'Ward (McLaren), Ayumu Iwasa (Racing Bulls), Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari). Luke Browning (Williams), Paul Aron (Alpine), Ryo Hirakawa (Haas), Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) and Arvid Lindblad (Red Bull Racing), the latter being the best of the bunch, sixth fastest. This left just Sauber to run both its regular drivers in the first hour of practice.

They and their more experienced colleagues had to contend with the usual challenges of the Mexican track, most of them related to its altitude - low downforce, low grip because of the dirty surface and track temperatures 6 degrees higher than last year in FP1.

Hadjar, Ocon and Hulkenberg opted to start on the Medium tyre, while the rest of the field went with the Hard. While the C2 did most of the work in the first session, with teams not willing to run the softer compounds while the track was at its greenest, by the end of the day it was the Medium C4 that completed the most laps, 37% of the total from all drivers, as teams used it to assess long run pace.

The Soft which all drivers used to set their best times did 34% of the work, with the C2 doing the rest. As is always the case at this event, lap times are expected to drop significantly over the next two days as the track rubbers-in and the dirt is cleaned away. There is still some way to go to match Carlos Sainz's 2024 pole time set in the Ferrari of 1'15''946.

Simone Berra: "The track's grip level is among the lowest of the entire season. Today's sessions have pretty much confirmed the data collected going into the weekend. The circuit is rarely used during the year, which is why the surface is very dusty and why we expect significant track evolution over the next two days also helped by the support races and the fact no rain is forecast.

"The Hard compound got plenty of use in FP1 and was the one most affected by the track conditions, although it still proved effective. The two softer compounds, which had already demonstrated their superiority early in the day, also benefited from the cooler temperatures in FP2 which got down to 35°C.

"That said, even in the second session, several drivers were complaining over the radio about the lack of grip, down mainly to the condition of the asphalt. This is also evident from the lap times so far, which although there's been an improvement of around a second in the second session, are still a long way off Carlos Sainz's pole time from last year.

"The greater mechanical resilience of this year's tyres has been confirmed by the absence of graining, which used to be a regular feature in Mexico City. Tyre degradation is already easy to manage and that should only improve still further by race day.

"As for the Grand Prix, at the moment, a one-stop strategy seems the most plausible with the Medium doing most of the work, paired with one of the remaining two. The choice between Hard or Soft will mainly depend on how long the drivers can extend their opening stint on the yellow-banded tyre, as well as on track temperature and, of course, track evolution."