Rookie Liam Lawson is the first driver to hop on the team radio and inform his Alpha Tauri team he's having a few issues with the car. The track is packed to the rafters because of second practice being handed over to testing some next generation tyres.

Second practice once again is given the full 90 minutes treatment to accommodate Pirelli's 2023 tyre test. Mexico is stepping in after the prototype run at Suzuka was cancelled due to bad weather earlier this month.

This time around, Mexico will be used to assess the softer slick compounds for next year, while in Austin the harder prototypes were run.

Hello again, Jennie Gow, Jack Nicholls and Jolyon Palmer - and possibly Andrew Benson too.

The gang is in position and ready to take you through first practice. Commentary is online-only for this session, so click the audio icon at the top of this live text page to listen in.

A few drivers are sitting out of first practice today to allow the rookies time to shine.

Alpha Tauri are handing Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson another session outing, with the 20-year-old Formula 2 racer taking the wheel of Yuki Tsunoda's car.

Over at Mercedes, reserve driver Nyck de Vries is back in the saddle for one more practice run before occupying his seat at Alpha Tauri for the 2023 season. George Russell is the man on the sidelines.

Alpine academy driver Jack Doohan gets his first experience in a Formula 1 car when the 19-year-old steps in for Esteban Ocon at the French team.

American Logan Sargeant is back again to ride in the Williams for Alex Albon, while Pietro Fittipaldi will get 60 minutes in the Haas in place of Kevin Magnussen.

Vamos, vamos, vamos.

Image source, Getty Images

Seventh place is handed back to Fernando Alonso.

Alpine have been successful in their bid to overturn the Spaniard's penalty.

US GP stewards upheld a protest by the Haas team despite it being posted after the permitted time limit had expired.

However, FIA stewards have reversed the decision, meaning Alonso and Alpine retain the six points the Spanish driver won from the race.

Officials agreed with Alpine's argument that the protest by Haas was not submitted within the correct timeframe.

Image source, Reuters

There's never a dull moment when Fernando Alonso is racing and at the age of 41, the two-time world champion is still making the headlines.

Alonso started in 14th spot after taking a five-place grid drop in Austin but was involved in a scary incident with the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll when, after crashing at 180mph, his car did a wheelie then hit a wall.

He pitted for a new front wing, resumed at the back and climbed to seventh despite damaged aerodynamic parts. But the Spaniard was punished with a 30-second post-race penalty after his Alpine was deemed to be in an unsafe condition after his mirror fell off while overtaking the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

Haas lodged a protest 54 minutes after the usual 30-minute deadline, after being told by the race director in the US that they had an hour to do so.

"A samurai must remain calm at all times even in the face of danger," Alonso posted on Instagram after Sunday's United States Grand Prix. He then questioned the direction of the sport under governing body the FIA.

Alpine protested Alonso's demotion and a decision has been made...

"We're probably due an apology from some of our rivals for some of the claims that have been made," said Horner as another serious question was fired in his direction.

So, onto the next big story, this time concerning a certain Spaniard and a bashed up car...

Image source, Getty Images

McLaren's chief executive officer Zak Brown welcomed the punishment handed down to one of their rivals but called for the FIA to go further with any future sanctions against those that "wilfully break the rules".

'We appreciate the cost cap investigation is a complex process which the FIA have conducted in a thorough and transparent manner," Brown said.

"I'm pleased the truth is out there now and it is the result is as we expected - there was a breach of the cost cap by one team, with the other nine operating in line with the rules. It is therefore only right that punitive action is taken.

"If the FIA is to be most effective and its punishments serve as a lesson to others when rules are broken in this way, the sanctions have to be much stronger in the future.

'We hope that the lessons learned through this process will now mean all teams have a clear understanding of the rules in order to avoid any future breaches. While we are pleased to see them act, we would hope the FIA take stronger action in future against those that wilfully break the rules."

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Red Bull already had the lowest permitted aerodynamic research time for the first half of 2023 as a result of winning this year's championship.

Last year, F1 introduced a sliding scale of aerodynamic restrictions in an attempt to close up the field, giving the lowest team in the championship the most research time and the highest the least.

Rival teams will have questions as to whether the punishment is appropriate, particularly over whether the fine will have any effect on a vastly wealthy global corporation, and also as to why the amounts published are different from those that were doing the rounds of the F1 paddock at last weekend's US Grand Prix.

They will also likely point out that the areas of the overspend are irrelevant because they, too, could have chosen to spend more in such areas, but that would have meant spending less on engineering and car design.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's what Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had to say in a press conference a few moments ago: "Why have we accepted it? Had we dragged it out through the administration process, that could have taken months and beyond that the ICA could have taken further months. We could have been looking at a 12-month period to have this closed.

"And the amount of speculation and sniping that has been going on, we felt it was in everyone’s interests to close the book. We accept the penalties - begrudgingly, but we accept them.

"$7m is an enormous amount of money and the more draconian part is the sporting penalty which is a 10% reduction in our ability to use our wind tunnel and aerodynamic tools. That represents between 0.25secs and 0.5secs of lap time.

"By winning the constructors' championship, we become victims of our own success by having a 5% incremental handicap compared to second and third places, so we will have 15% less than seconds and 20% less than third, that will have impact on our ability to perform on track."

Aston Martin have been fined $450,000 (£388,200) for a procedural breach of the financial regulations.

The FIA said the team were within the cap but had misreported 12 different items, including the costs of their new factory, wind tunnel and simulator.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Red Bull have been hit with a $7m (£6.07m) fine and a 10% reduction in permitted aerodynamic research for breaking Formula 1's budget cap.

Governing body the FIA said that Red Bull had overspent by £1.86m in 2021.

Their financial punishment is not a reduction in their permitted spend next year, when the budget cap is $135m.

The 10% cut is in the time they can spend using their wind tunnel or computational fluid dynamics to design their car.

The punishment comes after Red Bull acknowledged they were at fault and entered into a so-called "accepted breach agreement" with the FIA.

Read the full story here

Good evening, folks. Just three races left for us to enjoy of the 2022 season.

Round 19 in Austin, Texas was a thriller and saw the constructors' championship awarded to Red Bull for the first time since 2013. After Max Verstappen was crowned drivers' champion in Japan, teams and drivers are playing for pride now as we edge towards the finale of the campaign.

First practice gets under way at 19:00 BST.

Radio commentary is online-only using the play icon at the top of this live page.

Second practice goes green at 22:00 BST.

Full commentary of that session is available on Radio 5 Sports Extra, the BBC Sounds app and again, at the top of this page.

But first, big news in the last few hours in regards to Red Bull and the budget cap...

Image source, Getty Images

Mexico City is ready and waiting to welcome home its favourite F1 son this weekend. So, can Sergio Perez deliver the fans a fiesta to end all fiestas by becoming the first Mexican driver to win at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez?

Vamos!