Hamilton sends out message

Lewis Hamilton headed to the top of the time charts in opening practice for tomorrow’s Mexican Grand Prix.

Hamilton will clinch his sixth World Championship this weekend if he outscores Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 14 points.

Bottas finished fifth in the first running at an overcast Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, nearly seven tenths adrift of Hamilton. Charles Leclerc was second for Ferrari, 0.119 seconds slower than Hamilton, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third.

Hamilton and his Mercedes team have struggled at the Mexico City venue, which sits 2,200 metres above sea level, leading the Briton to believe he might have to wait for next weekend’s US Grand Prix to be crowned king of the world.

But the five-time world champion’s pace in the first action sent out a message that he could yet be in the mix for victory. If he triumphs tomorrow and Bottas finishes fifth or lower, the championship will be his.

Neither Leclerc nor Vettel, who finished sixth, posted a time on the speediest soft tyre compound. There will be more to come from them later. Vettel had a number of scruffy laps and angered Verstappen, with the Dutchman accusing the Ferrari man of creating a traffic jam.

The first session of the weekend was suspended for more than 10 minutes after Lance Stroll crashed. The Racing Point driver ran wide at the penultimate corner, losing the rear of his car and crashing into the wall.

Stroll limped back to the pits but red flags were issued, with marshals deployed to repair crash barriers.

Carlos Sainz ended up in seventh for Mclaren with his team-mate, British teenager Lando Norris, only 14th.

British rookie George Russell finished 19th for Williams.

Lewis Hamilton raced to the top of time charts in Mexico.