While last week’s US Grand Prix was a sprint event, this weekend’s Mexican GP will follow the traditional F1 format with three practice sessions leading up to qualifying and the race.

However, the schedule will still be a bit adjusted as the preparations for the 2025 season get underway. 

The first practice session will go ahead as usual, giving drivers and teams 60 minutes to familiarize themselves with the circuit. 

But the second practice will last 90 minutes, providing drivers with an additional 30 minutes of track time.

This change has been made to help Pirelli with development for next year as the F1 tyre supplier will be using the softer compounds in its lineup.

Because of this, in addition to the standard dry tyre allocation for the Grand Prix, which includes two sets of hard, three sets of medium, and seven sets of soft tyres—one less than normal—each driver will have two extra sets of unmarked tyres.

One of these sets will be the same as the ones used during the weekend to provide a baseline, while the other will be a 2025 prototype. Both sets will lack identifying sidewall colors, and only Pirelli will know which tyres are assigned to each car.

Pirelli has also confirmed that the testing program will include a performance run and a long run, with all teams completing the same number of laps and using equal fuel levels.

The only exception applies to regular race drivers who are substituted by a rookie during FP1 to fullfil the FIA’s requirement that each team hands over two sessions throughout the year to a driver with less than two grand prix starts.

In this situation, the race drivers will participate in Pirelli testing for just 60 minutes of FP2 and will receive an extra set of medium compound tyres to aid in their data collection.

After the adjusted session, Pirelli will examine the collected data in preparation for a further test set for the Tuesday following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.