MEXICO CITY -- Valtteri Bottas beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.4s as the newly-crowned world champions made a strong start to the Mexican Grand Prix weekend.
Though Hamilton can wrap up the drivers' title by finishing fifth or higher this weekend, it was Bottas who topped Friday morning's session. It will be a boost to the out-of-form Finn, who has struggled for pace at the last few races. Mercedes wrapped up the constructors' championship in Austin but is braced for a more difficult weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigeuz.
As with most FP1 sessions of a grand prix weekend, the lead times are likely to be misleading at this stage -- while Bottas and Hamilton set their quickest laps on the ultra-soft tyre, Red Bull and Ferrari's were set on the slightly harder super-soft tyre.