Ferrari 1-2 in the first tests in Mexico with Saint-Leclerc

The track in Mexico City, named after the Rodriguez brothers, saw the start of this year’s 20th Formula 1 race on very slippery and dusty tarmac, with early tests being red-flagged twice because of mechanical problems.

By the 25th minute of the hour-long process, all drivers had taken to the track on the hard rubber. With that, Max Verstappen was 0.3″ faster than Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull RB18 and half a second behind the Ferrari of the third Saint.

All this time Charles Leclerc spent with the other Cavallino in the Scuderia garage, with an unspecified mechanical problem. But in the 25th minute he was the first to leave the track on the soft rubber.

It was a natural consequence that the Monegasque was 0.75s faster than Verstappen’s previous time on the hard tire the first time, despite a sloppy curb pass.

The champion tried to react and set the fastest time on the first section of the course – until he did a four-for-foot at high speed and hit the barrier. “Unbelievable, I tried to fix it, there is so little grip,” the Dutchman told RBR radio.

A short time later, Leclerc lost the fastest lap by another 7 tenths and Fernando Alonso caught up to him by 0.15 in the Alps. Until it was time for Sainz to set the fastest lap of the season – 46mm clear – and the two RBR riders Perez and Verstappen to clock exactly the same time in 3rd and 4th.

Then it was time for the first of two red flags as the Ferrari engine gave up on the back of the Haas, with Piero Fittipaldi in the cockpit. After the brief pause to clear the white car from the track, Leclerc returned for another lap on soft rubber – but without breaking Saint’s time.

Then it was time for Lewis Hamilton to do his own fast lap on the soft tyres. The Briton in the Mercedes W13 caught Saind to 0.142, but this difference didn’t take him past 5th place. Alonso remained in 6th place as the top six were within 2 tenths of a second and the top ten within just 8 tenths of a second.

With three minutes remaining in the hour-long session, the red flags were raised for a second time due to a mechanical issue on Leanne Lawson’s Alpha Tauri, which remained in the famous ‘Stadion’ area of ​​the track. After that, the marshals announced that the exams would not start again, so they ended 3 minutes early.

Liam Lawson drove in place of Yuki Tsunoda for these tests and scored a 16th time. Fittipaldi missed a chance to correct, with Kevin Magnussen’s Haas VF-22 his last time -6 seconds away- while also new drivers in the cockpit were Logan Sargeant (Williams), Nick de Vries (Mercedes) and Jack Doohan (Alpine).