F1, live today | Practice 1 and 2 of the Mexican Formula 1 Grand Prix live and online

This is how the time table of the first free practice session of the 2026 F1 Mexican GP has ended.

Charles Leclerc remains in front in the last minutes of these first training sessions in Mexicoin it Hermanos Rodríguez Autodrome:

Pedro de la Rosa, on DAZN: “So far, better than expected. The new asphalt offers very good grip. We expected to find the track dirtier.”
Leclerc’s time is already better than last year and it may be due to the resurfacing: “Mainly it is because of the new asphalt, which offers more grip than the previous one. This year the cars are slower, but we are going faster, so it can only be the asphalt”
About Aston Martin’s plan: “Alonso has started with medium tires and Crowford, with hard tires. The plan now is to install medium tires and leave soft tires for the second session, since the track will be more representative. Alonso will now go out with a second set of medium tires.”
The performance of the AMR26, with Alonso, in the third sector, is good: “The positive point is that in the last laps that Alonso has done with the medium tire, he has also improved in the last sector. It is true that the strength of our car is mainly the slow corner, so, in that last sector, with very slow corners and where traction is so important, is where we perform best. In sector two it is the fastest corner. And in the first there is a slow corner, but a very long straight, two straights. So the last sector is the strongest for us, without a doubt.”

Fernando Alonso starts 12th for now, 0.031 behind 11th, a Haas.

The young man Fornaroli (Mclaren) goes long at the end of the straight. He goes to the escape and then to the grass. You can continue. He blocked tires with the steering wheel straight. “What happened?” he says over the radio. They answer that it is a combination of factors, “Cold wheels, bottoming and hitting the brake a little too hard”.

Ferrari seemed to take a step forward austin with the evolutions it presented there and many believe that they should be in the fight this weekend due to their good aerodynamics on a track where the load is reduced in all cars due to the lower density of the air at altitude. For now, Charles Leclerc starts leading with 6 tenths of margin with respect to Kimi Antonelli (2nd) and Lewis Hamiltonthird with the other Ferrari.

Due to the number of sessions that F1 teams are obliged to give in Free Practice 1 to young or reserve drivers, in these Free Practice 1 in Austin it is full of young people, with special mention to the debut in an F1 session for Nikola Tsolov, Bulgarian F2 driver, with Racing Bulls, who is risking the wheel with Lawson for 2027, so his performance will now be crucial, a key test. Young Freddie Slater also makes his debut, with Audi.
All the young people on the track, a total of 10, half a grid: Nikola Tsolovwith VISA Racing Bulls, by Lawson. Ayumu Iwasa, in Red Bull, instead of Verstappen. Leonardo Fornaroli, at McLaren, by Norris. Frederik Vesti with Mercedes, in Russell’s place. Gabriele Mini pilot with Alpine at the Colapinto place. Luke Browning He wears Albon’s Williams, and Jack Crawford, in it Stroll’s Aston Martin. Freddie Slater debuts in F1 with Audi by Bortoleto) and Colton Herta goes up to Cadillac of a Bottas who has also been affected by the virus that also hit ‘Checo’ Pérez. Ryō Hirakawa He gets into Ocon’s Haas.

Kimi Antonelli you can conquer your first F1 World Cup this weekend. He has to touch it. These are your title combinations: Kimi Antonelli is not feeling well and misses the preview of the F1 Mexican GP

This is what I said Carlos Sainz on Thursday at Mexico: Carlos Sainz: “You put most drivers in a top car and they would fight for poles and victories. We all have a lot of talent

These were the statements in the preview of this Mexican GP Fernando Alonso: “I think Mexico has always been difficult for us. But I think this year we arrived with a little more optimism”

Honda has a litmus test here. One of his engine problems in Singapore was turbo lag, turbo response. The countermeasures they tried in Austin worked very well. But at altitude, in MexicoWhat suffers the most is the turbo precisely and turbo lag can be a problem.
This is how Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s track manager, explained it: Shintaro Orihara, Honda F1 track manager: “We have to check it. In the worst case, we could have some restrictions on the engine operating conditions. But we are not worried”

The first free practice sessions of the 2026 F1 Mexican GP begin

And here comes another problem: REFRIGERATION. To cool the engine, everyone mounts more openings and gills on their cars so that more air than normal can enter and cool the engine. And that happens in multiple elements. Not only in the engine, but also, for example, in the brakes, for which air intakes must be redesigned.

And that hot air from the brakes is also transferred to the front wheels, causing the tires to overheat from the inside, reducing grip.. It will be one of the problems for some pilots, for whom the density of the air also affects their bodies, The pilot breathes less oxygen due to that thinner air, the heart rate increases because, like the car engine, the heart has to pump blood faster. And of course it increases fatigue and causes greater dehydration. Everything, for something that cannot be seen, the air. Incredible, right?

But the problem is bigger: The engines suffer more from the lower density of the air.and. What suffers the most is the turbo. The turbine must rotate faster and faster to put the same mass of air into the compressor as in another Grand Prix. And the compressor increases the density of the air with a higher concentration of oxygen so that the pressurized air extracts more power from the combustion engine. Thus, the engine works harder, and therefore heats up more.

This is one of the things that fascinates me most about the entire F1 year. And it has to do with what is not seen. The air. Did you know that if you take the spoiler that the F1 cars bring to Mexico and put it in Monza, on a straight line, the cars would be much slower in Monza? And did you know that despite having these high-load spoilers in Mexico, the maximum speed of Monza is usually exceeded? It all has to do with the air. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, in Mexico City, is located at 2,200 meters of altitude. And at that altitude, the density of the air is less, with 25% fewer particles in the environment. Thus, in Mexico, The air, hitting this wing, slows it down much less than in Monza.

For this reason, in Mexico, despite there being long straights, the F1 cars put their maximum load aerodynamic packages, similar to Monaco, and that at sea level, you would only put on very twisty circuits, with slow corners. In Mexico they place them because with such low air density, the aerodynamics of the car achieve less load, that is, the car sticks less to the asphalt, something key to being fast in curves.

It is estimated that an F1 usually generates about 2,000 kg of downward force, the so-called downforce, aerodynamic grip. But the altitude of Mexico means that 25% of that downward force that sticks the car to the asphalt is lost, something like 500 kg less force. That’s why you need the maximum load package like in Monaco, to mitigate that loss. And that generates more piloting difficulties, less grip, more sliding.

Welcome to the first day of training free for the 2026 Formula 1 Mexican GP, ​​at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. A very important first day, with two free practice sessions of one hour each to begin to see how much the altitude affects these cars and if the solutions of all the teams in terms of cooling and the turbo of the engines, in addition to the aerodynamic load, work as they should.