George Russell fastest in Mexican GP practice for Mercedes

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fastest in FP1 before Russell topped FP2, which doubled as a 2023 Pirelli prototype tyre test and so was unrepresentative in the main.

But Russell set the time on 2022-spec soft tyres, as he didn’t run in FP1, so it was a competitively legitimate lap.

Mexican Grand Prix FP1 results: Sainz fastest from Leclerc

What happened in Mexican GP Free Practice 1?

Two-time champion Max Verstappen set the early pace at 1m23.292s on hard tyres,…