Hamilton 2nd fastest

Mexico City : Valtteri Bottas headed team-mate Lewis Hamilton to a Mercedes one-two in first practice at the Mexican Grand Prix.

The Finn, who has struggled in recent races, was 0.466 seconds quicker than Hamilton, who is aiming to clinch his fourth world title on Sunday.

Hamilton needs only to finish fifth regardless of where Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel is to become world champion.

Vettel was fifth behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

The German was 0.762secs slower than Bottas and ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen as the leading teams went in two-by-two formation yesterday morning in Mexico City.

But Mercedes’ pace may not be an accurate reflection of reality as the world champions were the only one of the top three teams to set their fastest times on the ultra-soft tyres.

Red Bull and Ferrari both only used the slower super-soft, preferring to save their ultra-softs for the second session, when conditions will be more representative of those that will be experienced in qualifying and race.

Verstappen’s pace was particularly impressive - the Dutchman was only 0.571secs slower than Bottas, when the gap between the tyres is usually a little more than that.

Mercedes came into the weekend expecting to have a difficult time as, despite the long straights at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, teams run at maximum downforce because of the thin air at altitude in Mexico City.