F1 Mexico City GP: How 10 Rookies, Including Tsolov, Slater, and Fornaroli, Performed in FP1

High-Altitude Debutants: Tsolov, Mini, and Slater Step Into the Spotlight

The Mexico City Grand Prix once again served as a proving ground for emerging motorsport talent, featuring 10 rookie drivers in Friday’s opening practice session (FP1). With only Scuderia Ferrari opting to retain both of its regular race drivers, the rest of the grid made substantial use of their mandatory young-driver running allocations. Particular focus was placed on the trio making their official public appearances behind the wheel of current Formula 1 machinery.

Among the most anticipated runs was that of Bulgarian Formula 2 competitor Nikola Tsolov, whom Racing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane confirmed is being evaluated alongside Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad for a future 2027 seat. Permane made sure to remove the pressure of a pure qualifying comparison ahead of the session.

“I said to him look, this isn’t an audition, this isn’t a rehearsal or anything like that,” Permane noted. “We know he’s got pace, we know he’s fast – we see that in F2. And I said to him what we’re looking for is your feedback. We want to hear what you’ve got to say about the car. We want to hear about what you’ve got to say about the changes we make to the car, and then we want to hear how you are in the debrief.”

Building on previous Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) mileage at Imola, Tsolov logged a composed session to finish P12, trailing Lindblad by a mere 0.126 seconds.

“I think I was ready for it,” Tsolov said. “To be honest, I didn’t really think about it too much, didn’t really stress it, so I managed to arrive in a calm mental state.

“I don’t have any reference. So, for me, it’s just what it is. They’ve done already 20 rounds, so they kind of maybe felt different to the other places with the altitude, but definitely all the electric part of the car and the engine was something that I really had to get used to, and it’s something very new for me.

“So, I think I can do a lot better – just keep on building onto that and learning more about how everything works.”

Meanwhile, Alpine gave Italian junior Gabriele Mini his maiden run in the A526 after a private test earlier in July. Mini settled into P14, 0.756s off teammate Pierre Gasly’s pace.

“Both the team and I are pretty happy about how everything went,” Mini said. “We got a bit unlucky with the VSC timing at the end, which really didn’t allow us to do any push laps on soft, just one.”

Audi turned heads by handing 18-year-old Briton Freddie Slater his F1 practice debut before he has even contested an F2 round. However, his run was hindered by a pit lane procedural mishap: Audi sent Slater out with a cooling fan still attached to the radiator intake, triggering an unsafe release that resulted in a €7,500 fine from the stewards. Slater managed a single late lap to finish P21, over 1.3 seconds adrift of Nico Hulkenberg.

“At the end of the day, it’s motorsport, and that’s how things go,” the F3 runner up said. “We’re a team, and we win as a team, and we lose as a team. So of course, it was a bit frustrating, obviously, not to get many laps.

“But overall, that one lap that I did do was actually pretty good compared to relevant data. And a historic day for Audi to have their first junior driver in the car. It’s a very special day, so we look at the positives.” Slater will get another opportunity behind the wheel at the upcoming São Paulo Grand Prix.

Experienced Youngsters Shine: Vesti and Iwasa Set the Pace

Several drivers with prior practice experience made significant impressions on the timing sheets. Chief among them was Mercedes reserve Fred Vesti. Logging his third Mexico City FP1 appearance following outings in 2023 and 2025, the Danish driver secured P3 on the timing sheets, finishing just 0.074s behind Kimi Antonelli. Vesti indicated that he remains actively focused on chasing an F1 race seat, describing the timing of his strong outing as ideal.

“Every time he gets in the car and does an FP1, he steps it up a level,” said Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord. “And that was his most convincing FP1 so far.

“I think you can see that he’s a guy who, away from this paddock, is racing regularly, obviously an IMSA champion as well, and is able to step in and ready to race at any point. So, a really good job.”

At Red Bull, Ayumu Iwasa claimed fifth place (P5), making him the only rookie of the session to outpace his full-time teammate. Iwasa finished six places and 0.432s clear of Isack Hadjar, who battled power unit gremlins. Fellow Japanese driver Ryo Hirakawa piloted a Haas to P15, ending 0.570s behind Ollie Bearman.

Challenging Sessions for Fornaroli, Crawford, and Herta

Track conditions at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez proved treacherous for other participants. Reeling from his third FP1 session of the season for McLaren, Leonardo Fornaroli dealt with lockups and off-track excursions, concluding the hour in P17.

“Overall, it was a tricky session,” Fornaroli said. “Of course, it was a new track for me, and it wasn’t easy to build confidence. It was very low grip, especially at the start of the session, and then putting temperature into the tyres was very hard as well.

“I had a front lock up straight away into T1 because I didn’t manage to put the right temperature into the front tyres, and this, of course, compromised the whole soft run and performance in general.”

Jak Crawford’s fourth practice session with Aston Martin was curtailed after just 15 laps by an Energy Recovery System (ERS) failure, leaving him P19, directly ahead of Williams tester Luke Browning in P20.

At the rear of the field, American driver Colton Herta finished P22 in Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac entry, remaining focused on his pursuit of the FIA Super Licence points threshold.

“I was under the impression coming in this weekend if I do this, I get the Super Licence,” Herta said. “So, I guess I have to wait and see. For me the biggest thing has been to not worry about that stuff and just drive the car.

“And so that’s kind of what I’ve focused on all year, because it has been a discussion in my career for a lot of years now. And I just try to drive the car and do what I can do.”

Why This Matters

The extensive deployment of rookies at Mexico City highlights the operational necessity teams face in fulfilling their mandatory rookie FP1 obligations before the final rounds of the championship. The high altitude and unique low-downforce conditions of Mexico present a steep learning curve for inexperienced drivers, making clean sessions crucial for technical feedback. Furthermore, with teams like Racing Bulls and Audi shaping their driver development ladders for 2026 and 2027, performances in these sessions serve as vital real-world benchmarks alongside private TPC testing, affecting future driver market decisions and Super Licence qualifications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did so many rookie drivers participate in FP1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix?
Formula 1 sporting regulations require teams to field rookie drivers who have not competed in more than two Grands Prix in practice sessions throughout the year. Mexico City’s schedule and circuit layout make it a preferred venue for teams to satisfy these regulatory quotas before the season concludes.

Why was Audi fined during the session?
Audi received a €7,500 fine from race stewards for an unsafe pit release after Freddie Slater was sent out onto the circuit with an engine cooling fan still attached to and blocking his radiator inlet.

Which rookie driver set the fastest lap time during the session?
Mercedes reserve driver Fred Vesti set the fastest time among the session’s rookies, finishing P3 overall with a lap just 0.074s behind Kimi Antonelli.