Hamilton quickest as Stroll crashes in Mexico FP1

Lewis Hamilton set the pace for Mercedes in opening practice for the Mexican Grand Prix after edging out Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen at the head of the field on Friday morning at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Ahead of his potential coronation as a six-time Formula 1 world champion on Sunday. Hamilton made a strong start to the Mexico weekend by topping FP1 with a fastest lap time of 1m17.327s for Mercedes.

After starting the session on Intermediate tyres due to some overnight rain, Hamilton set his fastest time on a set of Softs once the circuit had dried out, finishing one-tenth of a second clear of Ferrari's Leclerc in P2.

Leclerc's best time came on a set of slower Medium tyres, but was enough to clear two-time Mexico winner Max Verstappen in third for Red Bull, who was a further two-tenths of a second adrift.

Alexander Albon finished narrowly behind his Red Bull teammate in fourth place ahead of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, while Sebastian Vettel took sixth in the sister Ferrari car, also setting his time on Mediums as he finished 0.891s off Hamilton's best time.

Carlos Sainz managed to lead the midfield for McLaren in seventh ahead of the Toro Rosso pair of Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat, with Antonio Giovinazzi completing the top 10 for Alfa Romeo.

The session was brought to a halt with 30 minutes to go when Lance Stroll crashed his Racing Point car into the wall at the final Peraltada corner, leaving the barrier in need of repair. Stroll was able to work his car out of the wall before returning to the pits so the team could complete repairs before the end of the session.