F1 Mexico City GP 2025: FP1 & FP2 Round-Up, Results & Analysis

Full Friday coverage from the 2025 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc led FP1 for Ferrari before Max Verstappen returned in FP2 to top the times under the fading Mexico City sun. Nine rookie drivers ran in FP1 as teams fought thin-air cooling limits and low-grip conditions across both sessions.

Get the complete FP1 and FP2 rundown, times, and key storylines from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Cooling the Impossible

Before a wheel even turned, the story of Mexico was clear.
Altitude. Thin air. Teams scrambling to keep their cars alive.

Ferrari arrived with new louvres and enlarged rear brake ducts, built purely for survival in the high-altitude heat. Red Bull reworked the engine cover and brake ducts, chasing air density that just doesn’t exist at 2,200 metres.

Williams, Racing Bulls, Alpine and Sauber all came armed with bigger cooling exits, different shapes, same problem.
The higher the track, the lower the air pressure, and the harder it becomes to keep engines, brakes and batteries from cooking.

McLaren, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Haas stayed put. No new parts this round. Just faith in their existing systems and a lot of duct tape on the brake sensors.

That was the tone before FP1.
Not performance. Not aero.
Just cooling.

FP1: Leclerc Leads Rookies and Rising Heat

Round 20 opened in the thin air of Mexico City.
Altitude already biting. Engines gasping for breath.

Nine rookies took part in the opening session as teams chased data rather than pace. Charles Leclerc topped the hour for Ferrari with a 1:18.380, just a tenth clear of Mercedes full-timer Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli logged 35 laps, the most of any driver, as Mercedes ran extended cooling tests on their high-drag package. Kick Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg followed in third, four tenths off, confirming the team’s mid-season consistency.

Behind them came Oscar Piastri and Gabriel Bortoleto. Both used early soft runs before switching to longer stints, their teams prioritising tyre wear modelling for FP2.

The conditions were brutal.
Track temperature hit 48°C while the air stayed just above 23°C. The altitude, more than 2,200 metres, left power units gasping and brakes glowing. Everyone ran with enlarged ducting, and several teams tested new sidepod inserts to push airflow through the radiators.

Dust made life harder. The surface, rarely used between events, caught out several rookies. Piastri had a snap in the stadium section but caught it. Hadjar ran wide into the runoff but rejoined. No damage, just heat and hard work.

Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad impressed again in sixth, running seven-lap-old softs, while Ocon and Tsunoda kept both Bulls inside the top eight. Colapinto’s ninth for Alpine marked quiet progress, and Albon’s tenth for Williams closed out a solid morning for the midfield.

Fuoco’s return to F1 machinery ended at the other end of the table. P20, 2.4 seconds off his teammate. Ferrari’s split programme was clear, Leclerc on performance, Fuoco on cooling data.

The top ten sat within a second, and no red flags interrupted running. It was a clean, useful hour. Ferrari first, Mercedes close, McLaren hiding their hand for later.

FP1 Final Classification

Between Sessions: Thin Air and Thick Data

By the time FP1 wrapped up, teams had their first taste of how brutal this place really is.
The altitude isn’t just a number. It changes everything.

Engines run hotter. Brakes never cool. Turbos scream to fill cylinders that can’t get enough air.
Cooling maps dominated the debriefs. Everyone knows Mexico’s 2,285 metres above sea level isn’t just a setup tweak. It’s an engineering exam.

Aerodynamic loads fall by roughly 20%, so teams pile on Monaco-level wings and still slide through the slow corners.
Engine power drops by around 10%, meaning fuel flow, ERS recovery, and brake balance all sit on a knife edge.

The morning data fed into a long afternoon of tweaks.
Ferrari’s focus stayed on rear-end balance and cooling management after their FP1 long runs showed high brake wear in traffic.
Mercedes split Antonelli and Vesti’s runs to map how fast the soft tyres fell off in the thinner air.
Red Bull, always methodical here, ran thermal sensors across the rear floor to study diffuser load loss.

Then came FP2

FP2: Verstappen Reclaims Control as Mexico Tightens Up

Max Verstappen didn’t take long to reclaim control. Back in the Red Bull after sitting out FP1, the Dutchman led the way in second practice with a 1:17.392. Leclerc kept Ferrari close in second, while Antonelli’s repaired Mercedes completed the top three.

The early minutes were messy. Kimi Antonelli was one of the first out but immediately reported a problem and was told to limp back to the pits. The issue was fixed quickly, and once the W16 was back on track, the Italian looked sharp. His best lap, a 1:17.566, came on the Softs, just 0.17s shy of Verstappen.

Lando Norris also returned to the car after giving it to Pato O’Ward for FP1, but complained of a misfire through the first half of the session. He still salvaged fourth, 0.251s off Verstappen’s time. Piastri, meanwhile, couldn’t match his teammate. Two scruffy laps on the Softs left him stranded in P12.

Ferrari stayed in the mix. Leclerc’s single-lap pace looked genuine, especially through the technical middle sector. Hamilton was only a few tenths back in fifth, his long-run pace showing Ferrari’s rear temperatures are holding up better this weekend. Russell followed in sixth, with both Mercedes cars showing solid high-fuel consistency.

Further down, Tsunoda was seventh and Alonso eighth, while Sainz quietly impressed in ninth for Williams, a reminder that the car still has life on lower fuel. Stroll rounded out the top ten.

Grip was the talking point all session. The thin air meant low downforce, cold tyres, and plenty of sliding. Verstappen called it “like driving on ice,” a line that summed up the afternoon.

With Pirelli bringing the C2, C4, and C5 compounds, teams leaned heavily on the softer end. The C5 Soft stretched comfortably beyond twelve laps in the cooling conditions, setting up what looks like a one-stop Soft to Medium strategy for Sunday. Most avoided the C2 Hard entirely, using FP2 to gauge how far the C4 Medium could run without overheating.

As the sun dropped over Mexico City, the pecking order looked clear. Verstappen back in control, Ferrari within touching distance, and Mercedes quietly gathering data. McLaren’s pace remains a question mark, Norris competitive, Piastri chasing balance.

FP2 Final Classification

Coffee Corner Take

Friday told us plenty.
McLaren still have the corner speed. Red Bull still have the straight-line edge.
And Ferrari, quietly, are edging back into the frame.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen both sat out FP1 but looked sharp the moment they rejoined.
Norris settled quickly, his balance clean and tyre wear manageable. Piastri, though, couldn’t quite find grip. Two scrappy laps, one wide moment over the kerbs, and he finished well off the front.

Verstappen looked composed from the first push, even as others complained about sliding through the slow corners.
The RB21 moved around more than he liked, and he told the team it was “like driving on ice.” But when the tyres were new, he was untouchable. Five wins here and counting. The altitude still seems to belong to him.

Ferrari and Mercedes both looked like steady factors rather than outsiders.
Leclerc’s soft-tyre pace was tidy without being spectacular. Hamilton hovered within range, the SF-25 running cooler than expected.
Antonelli’s calm recovery after that early hydraulic scare stood out. Straight back in, straight to P3. Russell not far behind, both Mercedes fighting the same rear-slide pattern that caught almost everyone once the track cooled.

Grip, or the lack of it, defined Friday.
Every car danced on entry and overheated rears on exit. Engineers saw it coming; drivers still hated it. The early read points to a one-stop on softs and mediums, but nobody has nailed the thermal window yet.

So, the grid leaves Friday with questions.
Norris has the rhythm. Verstappen has the record.
Leclerc and Hamilton sit close enough to matter.
And Mercedes, with Antonelli learning fast, might just be the ones to thread the needle when it counts.

Saturday will tell who’s mastered the altitude and who’s still fighting it.