Bottas leads a Mercedes 1-2 in first free practice at the Mexican Grand Prix

Valtteri Bottas finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit in Mexico City. Lewis Hamilton was in second position and Max Verstappen was in third position at the end of the first free practice session.

The sixty-minute long first free practice session started under clear skies and sunny conditions with air temperatures at 18 degrees C and track temperatures at 38 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4).

Kimi Räikkönen was the first driver on the track followed by the Uralkali Haas F1 Team team drivers. Charles Leclerc complained about the dust on the yet to be rubbered in track.

Bottas went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m21.327s on the soft compound tyres. Hamilton was 0.222 seconds behind him in second position.

Sergio Pérez on his home track slotted in between the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers. But Bottas went even faster with a lap time of 1m20.459s at the top of the time charts.

The drivers were on different compounds of tyres. The Red Bull Racing drivers were on the hard compound tyres. The Scuderia Ferrari drivers were on the medium compound tyres.

Both Leclerc and Pérez suffered damage to their rear-wing as they went off the track as they exited the stadium section on the low grip track. The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was briefly deployed.

Pierre Gasly displaced Bottas at the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m20.316s.

Hamilton went off the track at Turn 1 and rejoined the track without going around the bollard and will be investigated by the stewards after the session. Hamilton was on top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m20.085s.

Verstappen on the hard compound tyres slotted into first position with a lap time of 1m19.826s, 0.259 seconds faster than Hamilton. The championship rivals took turns at the top as Hamilton now went fastest with a lap time of 1m19.781s, just 0.045 seconds faster than Verstappen.

Pérez and Leclerc were sat in the garage as they waited for the rear-wing damage to be repaired.

With thirty minutes to go the order was Hamilton, Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda, Räikkönen, Bottas, Lando Norris,Gasly,Sebastian Vettel, and Antonio Giovinazzi at the top of the time charts.

As the track started rubbering in, Carlos Sainz and then Bottas went to the top with a blistering lap time of 1m18.834s.

Verstappen on his first run on the soft compound tyres pulled clear of the Mercedes drivers with a lap time of 1m18.464s, 0.370 seconds faster than Bottas.

With twenty minutes to go Leclerc and Pérez were back on track. Bottas in the meantime went faster than Verstappen by 0.123 seconds to regain first position.

Pérez got a good lap in to take fifth position, behind Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton and Gasly. Hamilton then slotted into second position, just 0.076 seconds behind Bottas.

In the dying minutes of the session, Fernando Alonso split the Ferrari drivers as he slotted into seventh position. A good session for the Alpine F1 team as Esteban Ocon finished in ninth position.

The session ended with a Mercedes 1-2 led by Bottas. Verstappen and Pérez finished behind the Mercedes drivers. Gasly had another good session as he finished in fifth position.

Sainz and Leclerc finished in sixth and eighth positions. Vettel rounded off the top ten positions at the end of the first practice session. With the track cleaning up, the second free practice session will offer a better glimpse of the pecking order for the weekend.

2021 Mexican Grand Prix FP1 Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	01:18.341		28
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	01:18.417	+0.076s	24
3	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	01:18.464	+0.123s	28
4	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	01:18.610	+0.269s	20
5	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	01:18.985	+0.644s	23
6	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	01:19.463	+1.122s	26
7	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	01:19.656	+1.315s	26
8	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	01:19.667	+1.326s	20
9	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	01:19.759	+1.418s	20
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	01:19.858	+1.517s	27
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	01:20.011	+1.670s	30
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	01:20.026	+1.685s	26
13	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	01:20.030	+1.689s	27
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	01:20.273	+1.932s	25
15	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	01:20.301	+1.960s	26
16	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	01:20.344	+2.003s	27
17	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	01:20.517	+2.176s	23
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	01:21.580	+3.239s	23
19	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	01:22.144	+3.803s	27
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	RAF	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	01:22.819	+4.478s	24