Charles Leclerc put Ferrari at the top of the timesheets in the opening practice session for the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix, setting a fastest lap of 1:18.787 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, 0.738 seconds behind his teammate, as the SF-26 showed encouraging pace while Ferrari also carried out aerodynamic testing.
The result represents a promising start for the Maranello team following Charles Leclerc’s second-place finish at the United States Grand Prix. However, Mexico presents a different challenge from Austin, with the circuit’s extreme altitude, cooling demands and low-grip conditions making this weekend an important test of Ferrari’s recent progress.
Mexico GP FP1: Ferrari faces an important test after its Austin upgrades
Ferrari arrived in Mexico with confidence boosted by its strong performance in Texas, where Charles Leclerc secured an excellent second place. The team also introduced its final upgrade package of the 2026 season at Austin, and the initial indications from those developments have been positive.
Nevertheless, the American circuit was already well suited to the characteristics of the SF-26. Mexico therefore represents a valuable opportunity to understand whether the improvements seen in Austin can translate into competitive performance at a venue with very different demands. The relationship between Ferrari’s Austin upgrades and the challenges awaiting the SF-26 in Mexico is particularly important this weekend.
One of the biggest complications is the altitude of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, which is expected to create difficulties for every team, particularly in managing temperatures. Ferrari has responded by introducing substantial cooling openings in the SF-26’s bodywork to help the car dissipate heat more effectively.
The altitude could also present a disadvantage for Ferrari’s power unit, which features a smaller turbocharger than those used by its direct competitors. However, expectations have not always matched what has happened on track this season, making it important to assess the situation through actual running rather than drawing premature conclusions. The cooling and grip challenges facing Ferrari at the Mexico Grand Prix remain significant factors to monitor throughout the weekend.
Ferrari begins Mexico GP FP1 with aerodynamic testing
Ferrari’s opening programme was not focused exclusively on lap times. Lewis Hamilton took to the circuit with a prominent aerodynamic rake fitted to the front of his SF-26, allowing the team to collect information about airflow around the car.
Both Ferrari drivers began the session on hard tyres, with Charles Leclerc following the same compound choice as his British teammate. After completing just two laps, both drivers returned to the pits, meaning their initial lap times provided little indication of their competitive potential.
Twelve minutes into the session, both Ferrari cars were still in the garage. By that point, the aerodynamic rake had been removed from Lewis Hamilton’s SF-26, bringing that phase of the testing programme to an end.
Shortly afterwards, Charles Leclerc returned to the circuit using the same hard tyres from his opening run. On his first flying lap, the Monegasque moved to the top of the timesheets, ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Fernando Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton also returned to the track on the hard tyres used during his first stint. While Charles Leclerc was unable to improve over his following laps, the seven-time world champion climbed to 11th position, although he remained almost two seconds slower than his Ferrari teammate at that stage.
Lewis Hamilton briefly leads before Charles Leclerc takes control on soft tyres
Charles Leclerc subsequently returned to the Ferrari garage, where the engineers made setup adjustments to his SF-26. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton continued circulating and improved to third position, reducing the gap to his teammate to approximately seven tenths of a second.
On his following lap, Lewis Hamilton found further time and moved into first place, beating Charles Leclerc’s previous benchmark by just 0.060 seconds. It was another indication of the progression Ferrari was making as the track conditions continued to evolve.
Charles Leclerc then switched to the soft compound for his next run. The change produced an immediate improvement, with the Monegasque reclaiming first place on his opening flying lap and establishing a full one-second advantage over Lewis Hamilton’s previous best.
Although Charles Leclerc did not improve on the following lap, Lewis Hamilton subsequently returned to the circuit on the soft tyres, identifiable by their red sidewalls. The seven-time world champion was unable to find any further improvement, while his teammate later went back out on the same soft tyres used during his previous stint.
Charles Leclerc completes short race-pace simulation as Ferrari finishes FP1 on top
During the final phase of his programme, Charles Leclerc carried out a short race-pace simulation. At the beginning of the third lap of that run, the Ferrari driver encountered considerable traffic, making it more difficult to maintain representative lap times.
Despite that interruption, the Monegasque subsequently produced a reasonably consistent sequence of laps, offering Ferrari another useful set of observations from the opening session. The drivers’ recorded performance and stint consistency can also be explored through the F1 practice and long-run analysis tool.
Overall, the first practice session offered only limited evidence about the true competitive order. The presence of numerous rookie drivers, participating under the FIA’s practice-session requirements, also made direct comparisons between teams more difficult than usual.
Nevertheless, Ferrari demonstrated encouraging competitiveness on a circuit offering relatively little grip. Charles Leclerc’s fastest lap of 1:18.787 and Lewis Hamilton’s fourth-place finish, 0.738 seconds behind, provide a positive starting point for the Scuderia as it continues to assess the SF-26.
The result follows Charles Leclerc’s encouraging performance and confidence after the Austin Grand Prix, although it remains too early to establish whether Ferrari will be able to reproduce that level of competitiveness throughout the Mexico weekend.
For now, the opening session can be considered a successful start, both in terms of the timesheets and the work completed on track. A clearer indication of Ferrari’s genuine performance, and how the SF-26 compares with its rivals, should emerge during the second free practice session.
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