Mexico City usually brings a rush of young drivers to the opening practice session, but this year's bumper crop of 10 rookies took things to a whole different level with only Ferrari fielding both of their regular race drivers. Naturally, all eyes were locked on the three making their very first public appearance in a current F1 car.
Among them, F2 star Nikola Tsolov stepped into the Racing Bulls machine with plenty of outside noise regarding a potential 2027 seat. Boss Alan Permane insisted it wasn't an audition or a rehearsal, asking simply for pace and detailed feedback instead. Tsolov enjoyed a clean run to P12, finishing just 0.126s shy of Arvid Lindblad. Over at Alpine, fellow F2 regular Gabriele Mini grabbed P14 in the Alpine A526, though a late Virtual Safety Car timing left him stranded with only a single push lap on softs.
Meanwhile, Freddie Slater made a historic F1 debut for Audi as their first junior driver in the car. At just 18 years old and having never raced an F2 car, the young Briton faced a massive mountain to climb—one made steeper when a garage error sent him out with a cooling fan still attached and blocking a radiator inlet, earning the team a €7,500 fine. Limited to a brief run, Slater settled for P21, more than 1.3s off Nico Hulkenberg's best, but kept his head high before another scheduled appearance in Sao Paulo next week.
Of the drivers with prior FP1 experience, Fred Vesti absolutely stole the show by putting his Mercedes in P3, just 0.074s shy of World Champion-elect Kimi Antonelli. Vesti revealed he is actively chasing an F1 race seat despite operating under the radar, calling the timing perfect. Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord praised the IMSA champion, noting it was his most convincing FP1 yet. Further up the timing sheets, Red Bull's Ayumu Iwasa was the only rookie to outpace his team mate, landing P5 and finishing six places and 0.432s ahead of Isack Hadjar, though power unit issues did compromise the Frenchman's running. Fellow countryman Ryo Hirakawa logged P15 for his session, finishing 0.570s shy of Ollie Bearman.
Others endured a much more frustrating time out on the asphalt. McLaren's Leonardo Fornaroli wrestled with low grip and multiple off-track excursions, flat spotting his soft tyres on his way to P17. Jak Crawford saw his fourth FP1 run of the year for Aston Martin cut short when his car ground to a halt with an ERS issue after just 15 laps, leaving the American stranded in P19 just one spot ahead of Williams driver Luke Browning. At the very bottom of the times in P22 sat Colton Herta in Valtteri Bottas' Cadillac, as the American continued his ongoing quest to secure a Super Licence. Herta admitted he was under the impression the weekend would settle the licence question, but confessed he will just have to wait and see while keeping his focus strictly on driving.
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