REPORT: Alex, Carlos and Luke get us started in Mexico City

The 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix weekend got underway with a raft of fresh faces – nine teams opted to use this weekend to fulfil one of their four mandatory rookie practice sessions, and Atlassian Williams Racing were amongst them.

Luke Browning took over Carlos Sainz’s FW47 for the opening hour, taking part in his third FP1 outing and joining Alex Albon on track.

Both sessions ran uninterrupted, allowing for plenty of laps around one of the shortest circuits on the calendar.

Neither driver ran the red-walled soft tyre in FP1, with Alex ending the opening hour in P10 with a best time of 1:19.384. Meanwhile, Luke’s 1:20.310 placed him P18.

Carlos returned for FP2 and quickly got back up to speed. Last year’s race winner in Mexico concluded the second hour of practice in P9 with a 1:17.939, while Alex finished P19 after a 1:18.855 – a lap that included a small kiss of the barrier at the final corner.

"I’m relatively happy with the car, especially considering I missed FP1," Carlos shared.

"There’s some setup work that needs to be done going into FP3 tomorrow but overall, it was a positive session.

"For tomorrow, I think Q3 should be our target, but to achieve it we will need to execute a perfect qualifying. Let’s see if we can find some performance overnight and keep improving step by step.

Alex added: "A tricky Friday where we struggled a bit with the setup. The track is also super slippery out there, so it took a while to get up to speed and get some proper laps in.

"We’ve got some work to do overnight and we will analyse everything as a team. If we can get on top of a few things for tomorrow, I think we’ll be in a better spot for qualifying."

Reflecting on his FP1 outing, Luke said: "A really enjoyable day being back out in the FW47! It’s a new track for me, so I’ve been learning the circuit lap by lap and making the most of the time out there.

"The pace looked strong on the hard tyre where we were quickest of the rookies. The medium tyre wasn’t as strong and unfortunately, we didn’t get a run on the soft tyre, but the long runs looked good which should bode well for Sunday.

"My main focus now is on the final two rounds of Formula 2 and hopefully securing the championship in Abu Dhabi."