One of the cars Lawson managed to beat was also continuing an extremely impressive run, though, as Franco Colapinto scored again in 10th place for Williams. That’s two top-10 results for Colapinto in his first four races since replacing Logan Sargeant, and in the other two grands prix he has finished 11th and 12th.
The pair are showing exciting potential despite their mid-season call-ups to the grid, and putting themselves on the radar for further opportunities in 2025.
READ MORE: ‘We were not expecting to be so strong’ says overjoyed Colapinto after adding to his points tally in Austin
Special appearances in FP1
Two drivers who know they have opportunities ahead of them are Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman, who will race for Mercedes and Haas respectively next season.
As part of their preparations, both will get behind the wheel during FP1 in Mexico City, and while for Antonelli it will mean a second outing for Mercedes after his Monza debut, Bearman will do his first FP1 for Ferrari. He raced in place of Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia earlier this year but only took over the car from FP3 onwards, and his other FP1 runs have been with Haas.
There will be plenty of interested observers in how they get on but they will struggle to overshadow another FP1 driver on Friday, as Pato O’Ward also gets another chance to drive for McLaren.
It will be the first time IndyCar star O’Ward has driven in the race weekend at his home race – with previous outings coming in Abu Dhabi – and it is sure to create another epic atmosphere at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez from the first minute of track running.