Russell crashes heavily in Mexican Grand Prix practice
· BBC SportAndrew Benson
F1 Correspondent
Mercedes’ George Russell created the headlines in Friday practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, fastest in the first session and crashing heavily in the second.
Russell lost control through the Esses early in the second session, which was taken up almost entirely by a Pirelli tyre test.
Russell was taken to the medical centre for mandatory checks because of the size of the impact but was released uninjured.
In the first session, there was another big crash, when Williams’ Alex Albon tangled with the Ferrari of reserve driver Oliver Bearman.
Driving Charles Leclerc’s car in the first session, Bearman was on a cool-down lap and Albon on a flying lap.
Bearman was trying to get out of Albon’s way but the British-born Thai lost control and spun into the barriers.
Albon called Bearman an “idiot” over the team radio but race stewards took no further action, saying in their report that both drivers accepted it was a “racing incident”.
Max Verstappen had a difficult day caused by an engine problem.
It brought his first session to a close, after which team principal Christian Horner said it was “minor”. But after taking to the track in the second session, it resurfaced and he did no flying laps before having to abandon his car for repairs.
Title rival Lando Norris missed the first session as IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward was given a run but took a full part in the second, ending up fifth fastest with a run on standard 2024 tyres late on.
Norris has a new floor on the McLaren this weekend, which the team are hoping will be a reasonable step forward in performance.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz set the pace in the second session, running on C4 compound development and standard tyres throughout, this year’s medium.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was second fastest, 0.178secs behind, running C5s.
In the first session, Russell was 0.317 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda third from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whose session ended early with an engine problem,
A number of race drivers did not take part in the first session - Lewis Hamilton’s car was driven by his 2025 replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was 12th fastest.
Fernando Alonso, celebrating his 400th grand prix this weekend, was replaced in first practice by reserve driver Felipe Drugovich, and Robert Schwartzman took over from Zhou Guanyu in the second Sauber, for whom Valtteri Bottas was eighth fastest.
At Mercedes, Hamilton’s car continues with the upgrades introduced last weekend in Austin, even though both he and Russell crashed at Turn 19 in the course of the weekend.
Russell is using an older specification because he damaged his new parts with his qualifying crash.