Charles Leclerc set the pace for Ferrari in a first practice session for the Mexico City Grand Prix featuring nine rookie drivers, with Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton among the big names to sit it out.

With teams obliged by F1's regulations to run inexperienced drivers in each of their cars in first practice two times during the season, nine of the grid's 10 outfits chose Friday's first hour of running at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to fulfil one of those sessions.

The top of the timesheet was dominated by race drivers though, with Leclerc fastest for Ferrari, last year's victors in Mexico, on 1:18.380, leading by a tenth of a second from Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.

Nico Hulkenberg was third for Sauber with championship leader Oscar Piastri fourth in his McLaren. Sau

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