Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time for the first free practice session for Sunday’s Mexican grand prix.

The first one and a half hour session got underway in cool condition and with a dusty track surface. Nevertheless, as drivers became to find their way around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez it was Lewis Hamilton who set the quickest time of the session. In second overall was the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel only a half tenth slower than the Mercedes driver. However, Hamilton’s quickest time was set on the white-walled medium tyre as opposed to Vettel who used the yellow-walled soft tyre to set his fastest lap.

The session was briefly red flagged after a front-wing failure on Felipe Nasr’s Sauber littered the circuit with carbon fibre. The Brazilian driver appeared to straddle the kerb and thereafter loose the entire right side of his front wing. The team later announced that they suspected floor damage contributed to the failure of the front wing.

Kimi Raikkonen, local favourite Sergio Perez, and his Force India teammate Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top five. Meanwhile Valtteri Bottas showed a good turn of pace for Williams in sixth ahead of Nico Rosberg in seventh, Daniel Ricciardo in eighth, Felipe Massa in ninth, and Daniil Kyat in tenth.

Final Free Practice 1 Standings: