George Russell admitted Mercedes have yet to get on top of their new package after Friday practice at the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP, although he and Kimi Antonelli both finished inside the top four in FP2. Earlier in the day, Frederik Vesti stood in for Russell and took a superb third place in FP1.
Antonelli arrived in Mexico on the brink of the Drivers’ Championship. The 20-year-old leads Russell by 123 points and Lewis Hamilton by 124, and he will seal the title on Sunday if he finishes ninth or higher.
Vesti grabs his chance in FP1
Vesti took over Russell’s car for FP1 and set a 1:18.861 to finish third, just 0.074s behind Antonelli in second and 0.733s off session leader Charles Leclerc. The Dane led all ten rookies who took part in the session.
Mercedes gave Vesti a full programme, which included aero work, a baseline run on the hard tyre and, finally, a run on the softs.
“It was pretty good. We started on the hard tyre, did some aero work for the team that we needed to be done, then did a baseline on that hard tyre, which was already quite encouraging, and then we bolted on the soft tyres, which was a huge privilege, honestly, as a rookie, getting that trust from the engineers,” Vesti said.
“Obviously, W17 has had an upgrade recently, we’re still exploring the performance window, so we can’t just waste an FP1, they needed me to push the car and get that important data and feedback on this car.
“Personally, P3, when I saw that, I was quite happy, I’ll have to say that.”
Vesti described the jump from the hard to the soft compound as a huge challenge for a driver with only an hour behind the wheel.
“I mean, it’s almost inhuman to go from that hard to the soft. You have no idea what to expect, you’re sort of learning corner by corner, feeling the grip. Obviously, when you’re driving the car every week, you sort of know what’s up and down, but jumping into a car for an hour like this, it’s very difficult.
“I think I made the most of it today, and I’m very happy with the lap I put together.”
Vesti’s opinion on new package
Mercedes ran their old car until Malaysia before switching to the new package, and Antonelli has described its operating window as narrow. Vesti shared that view after his stint for Mercedes at the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP FP1 session.
“I did feel that. It is definitely made for performance, probably sacrificing a bit of consistency, but it’s our job to deep dive and understand why that is, and particularly looking ahead to the [2027] season.
“We want that performance, but we definitely want the window to be wider. Both drivers, including me, are saying the same thing, which is important. We’re pretty aligned on where we want to go, and the engineers, I feel, have a pretty good idea of which direction we want to go in for next year.”
Russell and Lord back Vesti
Russell praised Vesti’s performance and revealed that he had personally asked the team to give the Dane a proper chance to show his speed.
“Yeah, he did a really good job. I know he’s really fighting hard to be in with a shot potentially of the Cadillac seat and I think he deserves his chance. He’s put a lot of effort in working with our team, we all respect him very highly,” Russell said.
“Most F1 sessions that he’s done he’s had the brunt of the work and not really getting performance runs in, so I think it was important for us as a team, and I said to the team I want to ensure that he gets an opportunity to show what he can do. That’s the least that we could do, so yeah, that was nice.”
Mercedes Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord confirmed that Vesti will drive again in FP1 in Abu Dhabi, when Russell sits out his second session of the year.
“We’ve got to run him again, once more in FP1, likely in Abu Dhabi as George’s second FP1 that he misses. So yeah, it’ll give him four good outings this year and I think we can see session to session he’s just building in strength,” Lord said.
“And a really great demonstration of a guy who’s been racing very regularly outside F1 in IMSA, jumping in and being right on the pace. So he’s done a great job today.”
Russell bounces back in FP2
Russell returned to the car for FP2 and quickly shook off his missed session. He set a 1:17.933 to finish third, just 0.003s behind Lando Norris and 0.106s off Leclerc’s pace-setting 1:17.827. Antonelli finished fourth with a 1:18.044.
Lord felt Russell showed no sign of the usual disadvantage that comes with missing FP1.
“He seemed pretty happy. He jumped in initially and needed a few set-up changes after the first run, but I think often you see a driver who misses FP1 session, then a little bit on the back foot in FP2, and that wasn’t the case at all,” Lord said.
“And I think he’s come here in a really good frame of mind after a difficult weekend in Austin and I think determined to put that behind him and give his best showing this weekend, and he’s started in the best possible way.”
Russell explained that Mexico City’s high altitude hits the 2026 cars particularly hard, as teams already run high downforce at every other track.
“It’s always tough coming to Mexico and like you say, normally we go from, historically most races will be a medium downforce and then you go to max downforce here. Now because we’ve got VSM mode on all the other tracks we basically run high downforce on all the tracks, so when we come here there’s nothing more to give, so that relative change is greater than usual,” Russell said.
“But yeah, it was not a bad day. Ferrari looked very strong and that was kind of the anticipation ahead of the weekend.”
Balance limitations hold Mercedes back
Despite a solid result during the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP Practice sessions, Russell admitted Mercedes are still learning their new package, and he compared their position to Malaysia rather than Austin.
“Yeah, I think still not fully on top of the new package. I think we see there’s some balance limitations we have that we’re struggling to overcome, and I would say currently for Kimi and I, we’re probably more outside the window, similar to what we saw in Malaysia, than inside the window like Kimi achieved in Austin, but hopefully overnight we can get it back there.”
The Briton pinpointed the car’s balance through the corners as the main issue.
“Just the balance, the through-corner balance isn’t where we want it and the car isn’t quite as together as we’d like it, so yeah, it’s going to require a bit of work.”
The power unit, however, delivered a pleasant surprise in the thin air, despite the threat of turbo lag.
“It’s been okay, it’s been better than expected to be fair, a lot better than expected. I don’t know if anyone else is struggling. Preparing for quali lap is a bit of a challenge, but once you’re up and running it seems okay.”
Lord: “Focus on the constructors”
With the Drivers’ title within Antonelli’s reach, Lord insisted Mercedes will keep their attention on the Constructors’ Championship.
“Honestly, completely focus on the constructors. We keep doing a solid job getting both cars up in the points, everything else takes care of itself. So it’s really easy, focus on the prize that’s one step down the road and let what happens happens here this weekend.”
Antonelli, meanwhile, has recovered from the illness that troubled him on Thursday.
“Yeah, absolutely. Back to his normal exuberance,” Lord said.
