The Formula One Grand Prix of Mexico got underway Friday in Mexico City as the teams hit the 4.3km Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the third-shortest circuit on the 2023 F1 calendar, for two of three Free Practice sessions.

Three time and 2023 World Champion, Max Verstappen, was quickest in both sessions with a lap time of 1:18.686 in FP2, a bit over one-tenth of a second quicker than McLaren's Lando Norris.

"It wasn't plain sailing out there today, there are always a few things to improve," said Verstappen. "You can see that the track is very slippery and the tyres were difficult to manage in the long runs, so there are still a few things that we can work on."

Alex Albon of Williams Racing was second quickest in FP1. Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo was fourth quickest in FP2.

Hometown hero and fan favorite, Mexican native, Sergio Perez, was third and fifth quickest in FP1 and FP2, respectively.

"It is funny, when you are in the car you are so focused you can forget where you are and then as soon as you are out, it's like wow, it's a lot of attention, but it is so nice to have a lot of support from the fans," said Perez.

Ferarri's Charles Leclerc was fifth and third quickest in FP1 and FP2, respectively.

"It has been a positive day overall as we were able to test everything we wanted. We tried all the tyres available and worked a bit on the setup even if it's clear that being only Friday there's still some work to do for tomorrow's qualifying," said Leclerc.

Five "rookie" drivers took to the track on Friday, fulfilling a portion of team requirements to have rookie drivers participate in an FP1 session. The drivers were: Oliver Bearman (Haas), Isack Hadjar (AlphaTauri), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Frederick Vesti (Mercedes) and Theo Pourchaire (Alfa Romeo).

Bearman, a rookie in F2 who has three race wins to his credit, was quickest of all rookies with a time of 1:21.313 - which was three-tenths quicker than Aston Martin's two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

Pourchaire, who won the first F2 race of the season at Sakhir, could not get out of the pits with Alfa Romeo suffering from brake issues on their C43.

McLaren's rookie sensation, Oscar Piastri, driving in Mexico for the first time in his career, was sixth quickest in FP1 on a set of prototype Pirelli's. The prototype was a new version of the C4 compound for possible use in 2024.

Pos	Driver	Team	Tyre	Time	Gap


1	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:18.686	122.360 mph
2	Norris		McLaren		S	1:18.805	0.119
3	Leclerc		Ferrari		S	1:18.952	0.266
4	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	S	1:18.955	0.269
5	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:18.988	0.302
6	Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	S	1:19.002	0.316
7	Hamilton	Mercedes	S	1:19.024	0.338
8	Ocon		Alpine		S	1:19.077	0.391
9	Piastri		McLaren		S	1:19.163	0.477
10	Russell		Mercedes	S	1:19.227	0.541
11	Sainz		Ferrari		S	1:19.257	0.571
12	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	S	1:19.290	0.604
13	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	S	1:19.415	0.729
14	Albon		Williams	S	1:19.446	0.760
15	Hulkenberg	Haas		S	1:19.535	0.849
16	Gasly		Alpine		S	1:19.642	0.956
17	Sargeant	Williams	S	1:19.900	1.214
18	Stroll		Aston Martin	M	1:20.075	1.389
19	Magnussen	Haas		S	1:20.112	1.426
20	Alonso		Aston Martin	M	1:20.426	1.740

Pos	Driver	Team	Tyre	Time	Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:19.718	120.776 mph
2	Albon		Williams	S	1:19.813	0.095
3	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:20.015	0.297
4	Norris		McLaren		S	1:20.237	0.519
5	Leclerc		Ferrari		S	1:20.297	0.579
6	Piastri		McLaren		PRO	1:20.463	0.745
7	Sainz		Ferrari		S	1:20.479	0.761
8	Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	S	1:20.568	0.850
9	Ocon		Alpine		S	1:20.677	0.959
10	Stroll		Aston Martin	S	1:20.687	0.969
11	Hamilton	Mercedes	S	1:20.724	1.006
12	Hulkenberg	Haas		S	1:20.968	1.250
13	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	S	1:21.129	1.411
14	Sargeant	Williams	S	1:21.157	1.439
15	Bearman		Haas		S	1:21.313	1.595
16	Alonso		Aston Martin	S	1:21.347	1.629
17	Hadjar		AlphaTauri	S	1:21.941	2.223
18	Doohan		Alpine		S	1:22.109	2.391
19	Vesti		Mercedes	S	1:22.937	3.219
20	Pourchaire	Alfa Romeo	S	No Time	

(photo by Aston Martin Media)