F1 LIVE | The first free practice for the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix

LIVEBLOG | The first free practice session for the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico 2022

After the race in America, there are officially no more titles to fight for. Red Bull Racing have secured the constructors' title, after Max Verstappen already managed to prolong his world drivers' title reign in Japan. So the last three races of the Formula 1 season are still mainly about places behind.

Last battles in F1

Still, there is a lot for teams in the middle ground to fight for. Every higher place in the rankings brings in a lot more money, and so teams are keen to maximise the final weekends. Alpine and McLaren are fighting for fourth place, Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin for P6 and there is also a battle for P8 between Haas and AlphaTauri.

The first free practice session is more important than usual due to Pirelli's tyre test during FP2. In this hour, teams will want to collect as much data as possible, as this will no longer be possible in the second session on Friday. This liveblog will keep you up to date with everything going on during the session. This liveblog will be completed in English.

The 2022 Formula 1 season has mostly been a battle between Red Bull and Ferrari. More often than not, Ferrari have been recording the pole positions whilst Red Bull have the better race pace. Verstappen could set a new record for the most number of wins in one season. He is currently tied with Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher on 13 wins. Though those two drivers had fewer Grands Prix in the years they raised the bar. If the Dutchman wins the last three races, he will have the highest percentage of wins in one season. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mercedes have been playing catch-up all season after struggling with porpoising in pre-season testing and beyond. Last time out in the United States Grand Prix, Hamilton led nine laps towards the end of the event but couldn't keep Verstappen in his rearview mirrors for long. The Mercedes upgrades did bring some improvement, but it was exaggerated because of a poor pitstop from the Red Bull crew. 

This weekend Hamilton hopes to be in the mix again for the race victory, and during the Thursday media sessions, he believed Red Bull might struggle under the high downforce in Mexico. But the seven-time World Champion also admitted the Honda engine is usually the strongest in the high altitude.