George Russell tops FP1 after big Alex Albon-Ollie Bearman shunt

George Russell set the pace in a truncated opening practice at the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix following a huge crash involving Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman.

The key moment of FP1 occurred when Albon suffered a snap on corner entry through the esses and spun his Williams, collecting Bearman’s Ferrari before slamming violently into the Turn 10 barriers.

Both drivers escaped the accident unhurt and after a lengthy delay, it was Mercedes’ Russell who lit up the timesheet on soft tyres to outpace Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz by 0.317 seconds.

Yuki Tsunoda popped his RB into third, 0.701s adrift of Russell’s FP1 benchmark and ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was eight tenths off the pace.

Nico Hulkenberg was fifth for Haas, ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas. Liam Lawson and home hero Sergio Perez rounded out the top-10 for RB and Red Bull.

Behind Williams stand-in Franco Colapinto in 11th, Kimi Antonelli was the fastest of the rookie quintet taking part in opening practice as he deputised in Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Antonelli, who crashed on his Mercedes FP1 debut at Monza last month, caused an early red flag when he hit a piece of stray debris on the main straight.

Pato O’Ward was 13th driving championship hopeful Lando Norris’s McLaren, with Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin) 18th, Robert Shwartzman (Sauber) 19th, and Bearman slowest of all for Ferrari after his session-ending crash. 

Red Bull confirmed after the session they are investigating a power unit issue on Verstappen's car, however, it is understood to be an older-spec unit from his pool.