Permain: Marco's words should not be taken literally.

      After the end of the first practice in Mexico, Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permain praised Ayumu Iwasa, the reserve driver working with the Red Bull teams, who drove Liam Lawson's car and set the 17th-fastest time.

      However, the Sky Sports interview with Permain was not only about the 24-year-old Japanese driver, whose chances of getting into a race seat at any championship team shouldn't be overstated…

      Alan Permain: "It's hard to compare Ayumu's result with the 11th-fastest time set by Isack Hadjar, but on the Medium tyres toward the end of the session he did a fairly respectable lap. We have something of a rookie pool, Ayumu is working with us this year, and we plan to give him another session — that will be in Abu Dhabi."

      Permain, like Laurent Mekies, the head of Red Bull Racing, believes decisions on the line-ups for both Red Bull teams for 2026 will have to wait a while longer: "That's right, they will be made after Mexico, but I don't know whether that will be known after Brazil, after Las Vegas, or sometime else.

      In short, you shouldn't take what Helmut Marko says too literally. We have five drivers, and we know for sure Max will not be driving our car (laughs).

      That leaves four, and we're continuing to analyse the situation. But right now both teams are locked in a pretty tense fight for places in the Constructors' Championship, so it's better for us not to be negotiating with drivers with next year in mind, so that it doesn't affect our stability."