Max Verstappen set the fastest time in practice for the Mexican Grand Prix as teenager Oliver Bearman made history by becoming the youngest British driver to take part in a Formula One weekend.
Verstappen denied Williams’ Alex Albon top spot by just 0.095 seconds at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City as home favourite Sergio Perez finished third, three tenths back.
Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren – half a second behind Verstappen – with Lewis Hamilton only 11th, one second off the pace in his Mercedes.
Things that happened when Ollie Bearman was born...#HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/wxhFg6X9mZ
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) October 27, 2023
Bearman, 18, competing for American outfit Haas, ended his F1 debut in 15th, only 1.6 sec slower than Verstappen and three tenths adrift of Nico Hulkenberg – a veteran of 200 grands prix – in the other car. Bearman also finished one place ahead of double world champion Fernando Alonso.
F1 teams must run a rookie driver at least twice during the season and Chelmsford-born Bearman was handed his chance to impress, breaking the British record previously held by Norris.
Norris was three months shy of his 19th birthday when he took part in practice for McLaren in Belgium in 2018 before he was promoted to a race seat the following season. Bearman turned 18 in May.
The teenager, a member of the Ferrari academy, has taken four victories in F1’s feeder series Formula Two and is sixth in the standings ahead of next month’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Alex Albon COOKED in FP1
formula 1
F1
Auto
Motor Racing
practice
Mexican
as
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
Sergio Perez
Fernando Alonso
Alex Albon
Nico Hulkenberg