By Alan Baldwin
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -George Russell was fastest for Mercedes in opening Mexico City Grand Prix practice on Friday after a heavy collision between Williams’ Alex Albon and Ferrari’s Oliver Bearman halted the session.
Bearman, the British reserve who will be racing for Haas next season, was driving Charles Leclerc’s car in the hour-long practice.
Albon careered hard into the tyre wall at turn 10, the Thai losing control after he came round the corner at speed and found the slower Ferrari on the right side of the track.
The Williams skewed sideways into the Ferrari, damaging its suspension, before crashing with the session red-flagged for 13 minutes.
Albon, who was taken to the circuit medical centre as a precaution and passed fit, called Bearman an ‘idiot’ over the team radio with stewards announcing an investigation.
“Alex had to back out of it and lost the car on the apex,” Williams team boss James Vowles told Sky Sports television. “The car doesn’t really step out there. He lifted off because he saw the other car.
“As long as the chassis is OK, we will be fine for FP2 (second practice). If the chassis is damaged, it’s a bit more significant.”
Russell set a fastest time of one minute 17.998 seconds, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz 0.317 slower and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda third on the timesheets.
Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen was fourth fastest but missed the last five minutes of the session due to an engine problem.
“There’s something wrong with the engine, mate,” he said over the radio to his race engineer. “I don’t know… it’s not behaving nice. I have no power.”
His closest rival Lando Norris sat out the session while Mexican IndyCar regular Pato O’Ward took a turn in the McLaren and ended up 13th.
Mercedes’ seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was also absent, handing over his car to Italian Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli, the 18-year-old who will replace Ferrari-bound Hamilton next season, lapped 12th fastest in his second such outing of the season. He had crashed in the first at Monza in August.
Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto was 11th for Williams with Brazilian Felipe Drugovich 18th in Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin. Alonso will be back for second practice for what will be the Spaniard’s 400th race.
Mexican Sergio Perez, struggling with a dire lack of form, was only 10th for Red Bull in front of his home fans and behind RB’s Liam Lawson in ninth.
The second session lasts for an hour and a half to allow teams to test Pirelli’s 2025 development tyres.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
