Mexican GP: Free Practice 1 - Re-Cap & Times

MEXICAN GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE #1

    Lewis Hamilton led the first practice session of the Mexican GP weekend with a 1:20.914, while Nico Rosberg finished outside the top 7. Instead it was Sebastian Vettel who came close to Hamilton's time with a 1:20.993. Raikkonen, Perez and Hulkenberg completed the top 5.

    This is the home race for both Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez but for Perez, this will be his second time racing on home soil, for Gutierrez it will be his first time. Last year, Gutierrez was without a drive and was watching from the sidelines as a Ferrari reserve. Sergio Perez finished the session in 4th with a 1:21.200 while Gutierrez finished 15th with a 1:22.910

    Multiple drivers ran the 'Halo' head protection device, including Perez, Magnussen, Nasr and Wehrlein. Magnussen was unimpressed with the Halo and said that the visibility was not as good as he had hoped. While the drivers have different opinions and views on the Halo, one thing is for certain, it won't be formally introduced in 2017, but instead will be tested by all the drivers on the grid before any further decisions are made.

    The session was Red Flagged when Felipe Nasr took a high-speed trip over some of  the kerbing and lost a huge piece off of his front wing. The piece shattered and debris was scattered along the surrounding area of the track. The session was resumed a few minutes later once the track was clean.

    Max Verstappen suffered a brake fire in the pit-lane due to the rear brakes overheating. While it was session over for him, the team was still able to fix the car before the second practice session started.

TIMES:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:20.914 / Mercedes-Mercedes

2. Sebastian Vettel - 1:20.993 / Ferrari-Ferrari

3. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:21.072 / Ferrari-Ferrari

4. Sergio Perez - 1:21.200 / Force India-Mercedes

5. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:21.409 / Force India-Mercedes

6. Valtteri Bottas - 1:21.447 / Williams-Mercedes

7. Nico Rosberg - 1:21.673 / Mercedes-Mercedes

8. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:21.727 / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER

9. Felipe Massa - 1:21.836 / Williams-Mercedes

10. Daniil Kvyat - 1:22.215 / Toro Rosso-Ferrari

11. Romain Grosjean - 1:22.500 / Haas-Ferrari

12. Carlos Sainz - 1:22.563 / Toro Rosso-Ferrari

13. Marcus Ericsson - 1:22.723 / Sauber-Ferrari

14. Max Verstappen - 1:22.877 / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER

15. Esteban Gutierrez - 1:22.910 / Haas-Ferrari

16. Fernando Alonso - 1:23.089 / McLaren-Honda

17. Felipe Nasr - 1:23.089 / Sauber-Ferrari

18. Jenson Button - 1:23.342 / McLaren-Honda

19. Kevin Magnussen - 1:23.556 / Renault-Renault

20. Esteban Ocon - 1:24.083 / Manor-Mercedes

21. Jolyon Palmer - 1:24.097 / Renault-Renault

22. Pascal Wehrlein - 1:24.350 / Manor-Mercedes

----

Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended

Follow us on Twitter @F1Insider78 & @Bethonie_Boost