Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc dominated Friday Practice at the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Leclerc dominated both practice sessions on a strong day for the Monegasque and Ferrari aside from a power unit issue for Lewis Hamilton in FP2, whilst ten teams utilised rookie drivers in FP1 to fulfil mandatory FP1 rookie driver sessions.
FP1
Ferrari’s Hamilton was the first driver out on track and laid 1m 34.642 as the initial benchmark time, which his teammate – Charles Leclerc swiftly demolished with 1m 21.965 to go quickest on the hard tyre.
Antonelli then posted 1m 21.656 moments later but the Italian’s lap time was deleted due to having ran wide over the kerb at Turn 12.
He subsequently responded with 1m 20.814 on his next lap after Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad on the medium tyre posts 1m 21.082 to go top moments earlier in the ninth minute.
Antonelli went on to lower his benchmark to 1m 20.155 just four minutes later but Leclerc responded in the 15th minute to post 1m 19.197 as the benchmark at the halfway mark of the session.
Once attention turned to the soft tyre simulations for several drivers, Leclerc emerged quickest on 1m 18.128 ahead of Antonelli, Frederik Vesti and Hamilton, as the quartet plus Pierre Gasly. Oscar Piastri, Arvid Lindblad, Isack Hadjar, Nikola Tsolov, Leonardo Fornaroli and Gabriele Mini.
Vesti was the fastest overall of ten rookie FP1 drivers in third position, whilst Ayumu Iwasa was the highest placed medium-tyre pace setter in front of Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg, Ryo Hirakawa, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Jak Crawford, Luke Browning, Freddie Slater and Colton Herta.
Slater however had the toughest session of the ten rookies after mechanical issues limited him to small runs and just past the half-hour mark, he was informed that his session was over yet Audi located and quickly fixed the problem so he eventually got back out on track in the closing minutes.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 18.128 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.659 |
| 3 | Frederik Vesti | Mercedes | + 0.733 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.738 |
| 5 | Ayumu Iwasa | Red Bull | + 0.985 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.082 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.229 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.248 |
| 9 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.284 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.350 |
| 11 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.417 |
| 12 | Nikola Tsolov | Racing Bulls | + 1.476 |
| 13 | Â Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.480 |
| 14 | Gabriele Mini | Alpine | + 1.818 |
| 15 | Ryo Hirakawa | Haas | + 1.854 |
| 16 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 1.878 |
| 17 | Leonardo Fornaroli | McLaren | + 2,107 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 2.267 |
| 19 | Jak Crawford | Aston Martin | + 2.675 |
| 20 | Luke Browning | Williams | + 2.741 |
| 21 | Freddie Slater | Audi | + 2.817 |
| 22 | Colton Herta | Cadillac | + 3.237 |
FP2
Gasly was first out on track but it was his Alpine teammate, Franco Colapinto who set a benchmark time of 1m 23.521 on the medium tyres.
Hadjar, Antonelli and Piastri soon went quickest followed by Hamilton but Leclerc in the ninth minute posted 1m 18.257 to top the opening stints.
The red flag was thrown in the 14th minute due to debris at Turns 14 and 15 after Verstappen dived up the inside of Lawson at Turn 12, which led Lawson to hold the inside line into the next two corners and nudged Verstappen wide over the inside kerb of the latter corner.
Verstappen consequently clattered into the right corner of Lawson’s front wing as he rejoined the circuit and caused a five-minute stoppage due to the debris.
Once the session resumed in the 19th minute, Leclerc ran wide at Turns 12 and One on his first two soft-tyre qualifying simulations of the session, whilst Norris posted 1m 18.161 to go top in the 24th minute.
Leclerc subsequently twice beat Norris’ lap time to top FP2 with 1m 17.827 from the reigning champion and last year’s race winner by 0.103 seconds.
Hamilton meanwhile stopped in the 28th minute at Turn 3 after he suffered a loss of power which left him 11th in the classification.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 17.827 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.103 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.106 |
| 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.217 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.311 |
| 6 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.410 |
| 7 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 0.562 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.580 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.638 |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.642 |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.685 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.769 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.947 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.022 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.196 |
| 16 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.305 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 1.421 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 1.579 |
| 19 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.751 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.804 |
| 21 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.338 |
| 22 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 2.347 |
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