Mexican GP 2016, Practice One: Lewis Hamilton keeps momentum

Lewis Hamilton continued the momentum from his Austin win last weekend by setting the pace in first practice at the Mexican GP, with Nico Rosberg only seventh.

Both Hamilton and Rosberg set their quickest laps on the medium tyres but were seven tenths apart on pace. 

Hamilton, who realistically needs to keep winning over the final month of the season to have a chance of retaining his title, was less than a tenth quicker than Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel but Mercedes ominously set their quickest times on the mediums, the slowest tyre in use.

Mexican GP talking points

There had been just one tenths between Hamilton and Rosberg at the start of the session but the Briton made a big improvement towards the end of his stint on mediums and wound up over half a second quicker than his team-mate with a best time of 1:20.914.

Championship leader Rosberg was shuffled down to seventh as the Ferraris (softs), Force Indias (supersofts) and Williams' Valtteri Bottas (softs) all made up ground on quicker compounds.

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But Hamilton's pace on the slowest tyre was a warning shot for the rest of the field.

As in Austin, Red Bull experienced a low-key P1 with Daniel Ricciardo taking the softs to eighth place, 0.8s behind Mercedes.

How Rosberg can win title on Sunday

But team-mate Max Verstappen's weekend began in troubled fashion as the Dutchman lost half of the session after his rear brakes caught fire.

"We had an issue with the rear brakes overheating," Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky F1. "We had an energy-recovery setting that we were trying that got the brakes a bit out of control and it damaged a couple of the electrical looms. That caused a bit of downtime to get that fixed."

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Sauber's Felipe Nasr caused a mid-session red flag when part of his front wing disintegrated down the straight after breaking it on one of the circuit's high kerbs.

Mexican GP Practice One timesheet
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Medium tyres, 1:20.914
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari,  Soft tyres, + 0.079
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, Soft tyres, + 0.158
4. Sergio Perez, Force India,  Supersoft tyres, + 0.286
5. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, Supersoft tyres, + 0.495
6. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, Soft tyres, + 0.533
7. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, Medium tyres, + 0.759
8. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Soft tyres, + 0.813
9. Felipe Massa, Williams, Soft tyres, + 0.922
10. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, Soft tyres, + 1.301
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas, Soft tyres, + 1.586
12. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, Medium tyres, + 1.649
13. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, Supersoft tyres, + 1.809
14. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Used soft tyres, + 1.963
15. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, Soft tyres, + 1.996
16. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, Used medium tyres, + 2.175
17. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, Used supersoft tyres, + 2.175
18. Jenson Button, McLaren, Soft tyres, + 2.428
19. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, Medium tyres, + 2.642
20. Esteban Ocon, Manor, Used soft tyres, + 3.169
21. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, Medium tyres, + 3.183
22. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, Used medium tyres, + 3.436