F1: Hamilton fastest in 1st practice at Mexican Grand Prix

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest lap at Friday’s opening practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix, a race that wasn’t expected to favor Mercedes as he seeks a sixth career Formula One championship.

Hamilton has called surging Ferrari the likely race favorite, but his lap time of 1 minute, 17.327 seconds in the high altitude of Mexico City edged Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.119 seconds. Red Bull’s two-time defending race champion Max Verstappen was third.

Hamilton can clinch the season championship Sunday if he finishes 14 points ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, the only driver still mathematically alive in the title chase. Bottas, who won two weeks ago in Japan, was fifth in the opening practice

A sixth career championship would put Hamilton just one behind the record seven won by Michael Schumacher. Hamilton has just one win in four races in Mexico City and hasn’t finished on the podium since 2016.