The practice sessions ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix went according to programme. In his third FP1 session for the Sauber F1 Team, Charles Leclerc had his first experience of driving on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. In the afternoon, Marcus Ericsson took over the cockpit. Together with Pascal Wehrlein, the drivers concentrated on short and long runs in the afternoon, in preparation for the rest of the weekend.

Charles Leclerc: "It was a positive session overall, as I was also able to run the planned programme. The track was a bit slippery due to the low grip. It was a nice experience and the track is fun to drive on; I really liked it. It has a bit of everything, all kinds of corners. I am learning more and more each time I drive the car, and I am really looking forward to getting back into the Sauber C36-Ferrari for the free practice session in Brazil."

Marcus Ericsson: "It was a bit of a challenge for me to only start driving in FP2 today. I had a bit of catching up to do, but I was satisfied with being on the pace quickly. Overall it was a positive day. Unfortunately, I was having some issues with the car throughout the session, and we are working on understanding the causes so that we can improve for tomorrow. Overall, it was a decent session for me."

Pascal Wehrlein: "Today was an OK day for me. I was able to complete a good number of laps and worked through the programme. In FP1, we tried different set-ups on soft and supersoft tyres, whereas we focused on qualifying and race preparations in the afternoon. Overall it was a productive day. We are going to keep working on our performance, in order to continue the weekend on this positive note."

Check out our Friday gallery from Mexico, here.