At a glance, it might have looked like the perfect first Free Practice session for NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes. Not only did he top the timesheets, but he did so with a lap 0.381s quicker than the next driver, TAG Heuer Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein.
However, Hughes made a costly mistake towards the end of the session – binning his McLaren at the entry to Turn 2. The incident at Peraltada brought out the red flags, with the FIA deciding not to resume the session.
The 29-year-old was able to get out of his car unassisted, but the error was not the way the young Brit would have wanted to start Season 10.
“He's all good,” Ian James, Team Principal at NEOM McLaren said of the incident. “I mean frustrated, of course, for crashing at that point. It was a messy session in general. Listen, it's one of those things we just need to take another look at.
“When [Jake] came on the radio straight afterwards he said that he felt it all under control and obviously he had just put in a cracking lap, so we just need to take a look at it to understand what's happened and then regroup for tomorrow.”
FP1 REPORT: Hughes and McLaren set the early pace in Mexico City
Hughes wasn’t the only one to bring out a red flag during the extended session, with Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther having an almighty slide on the final corner early on in FP1. Guenther managed to hit the wall, reporting damage to the car’s suspension, before stopping on the start-finish straight where it was recovered off the track.
“I think as long as the chassis is okay, and we haven't punctured anything from the components of the front I think we should be okay, but we'll let the mechanics take a look and see how much work we've got to do.”
Unfortunately for the team, there was significant damage and a McLaren spokesperson has confirmed that the chassis has been replaced as the survival cell was damaged in the shunt. Hughes, and the rest of the 22-car grid, will have a chance to go again tomorrow for Formula E’s first race day of Season 10. We can’t wait!
Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2024 Hankook Mexico City E-Prix
It's now on to race day on Saturday 13 January as Free Practice 2 kicks off the day at 07:25, qualifying follows at 09:40 as the field of 22 drivers battle for the Julius Baer Pole Position to get the best start to the opening round of Season 10 when the lights go out at 14:00 local/20:00 UTC.
View the full schedule in your time zone and check the broadcaster listings or tap the Ways to Watch button above to find out where to watch all the racing action where you live.