World champion Lewis Hamilton laid down the gauntlet to Nico Rosberg by emphatically beating his title rival in opening practice for the Mexican Grand Prix.

Hamilton heads into Sunday’s race – the first of three remaining grands prix – 26 points adrift of his Mercedes team-mate with only 75 to play for.

But the 31-year-old Briton, chasing his second victory in seven days following his triumph in Austin last Sunday, was comfortably faster than Rosberg with the championship leader only seventh in the standings.

Indeed Hamilton’s best lap of one minute and 20.914 seconds at a chilly Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Friday morning was more than seven tenths of a second faster than his championship rival.

While the Mercedes duo posted their best times on the medium tyre – the slowest of the three available compounds available here this weekend – Sebastian Vettel was within a tenth of Hamilton’s best lap on the soft tyre with his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen third.

The Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were next up with Valtteri Bottas in the Williams also ahead of Rosberg.

While Rosberg, 31, can afford to finish second at two of the remaining races, and third on one occasion and still be crowned world champion, the German would appear to have work to do this weekend.

For Hamilton, who has admitted he is revelling in the challenge of overhauling his Mercedes team-mate in the championship race to win what would appear as an unlikely fourth title, he will no doubt be pleased with his performance in opening practice.

While Hamilton led the way, the session was suspended for 10 minutes after Felipe Nasr’s front wing shattered following a trip across the kerbs with debris from his Sauber littering the circuit. He later returned to post the 17th best time.

Brazilian Nasr split the two McLaren drivers with Fernando Alonso only 16th, and Jenson Button, who will not be competing in the sport next season, two places behind his team-mate. British rookie Jolyon Palmer ended the session in 21st place, half-a-second adrift of his Renault team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

Elsewhere, Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo was eighth in the standings, while his Dutch team-mate Max Verstappen missed half of the 90-minute session with a brake issue.