Charles Leclerc made it a clean sweep of practice sessions as he topped second practice ahead of this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix; the Ferrari driver set a 17.827 to put himself a tenth faster than Lando Norris. Leclerc proved to live up to expectations going into the weekend that Ferrari were the team to beat.
Leclerc’s first representative time was enough to edge out Hamilton by nearly five-tenths as he avoided being caught out by lock-ups that drivers up and down the grid, including Norris, continued to suffer. Leclerc’s own lock-up allowed the McLaren driver to briefly go fastest.
Norris put his McLaren three thousandths faster than George Russell, with his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli over a tenth further behind. Antonelli can become the youngest ever world champion with ninth on Sunday; the Italian was two tenths off the outright pace.
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull nearly a tenth behind Antonelli; the five-time winner in Mexico City was nearly a tenth faster than teammate Isack Hadjar. The Dutchman was also involved in a bizarre collision with Liam Lawson, as he tried to overtake the sister Racing Bull.
Lawson defended and retained track position, only for the battle to continue on for several more corners before the pair made contact, leaving debris on the track that caused a red flag. The pair will not only have to explain themselves to their teams, who are both part of the Red Bull family, but also to the stewards as they were called to see them following the session.
But it was an early exit for Lewis Hamilton; he stopped with an engine issue halfway through the session on what could have been his fastest lap. He completed the lap but was then swiftly told by his engineer to pull over on track, ending his session early and denying him valuable information that his rivals were able to gather with their race simulations.
Arvid Lindblad put his Racing Bull seventh, a tenth and a half behind Hadjar, as the English-Swede went almost two tenths faster than Pierre Gasly. The Alpine driver split the Racing Bulls as he went half a tenth faster than Lawson, while Oscar Piastri completed the top ten.
Hamilton’s engine issue left him eleventh as he missed out on the top ten by just over four hundredths. The Ferrari driver tumbled down nine places after being unable to complete his qualifying simulation, and that left the seven-time champion eight and a half hundredths faster than Fernando Alonso.
Esteban Ocon was three quarters of a tenth ahead of Haas teammate Ollie Bearman, but it was a troubled session for both drivers. Ocon reported that he had “no power steering” on his installation laps, forcing him to head back to the garage just as Bearman momentarily pulled to the side of the track. Both got going again.
Nico Hulkenberg was a tenth and three quarters faster than Franco Colapinto, with Carlos Sainz a tenth further behind. Sergio Perez managed to split the Williams; he was a tenth of Sainz and a tenth and three-quarters faster than Alex Albon. Perez was another driver to be affected by illness this weekend.
Alex Albon was half a tenth ahead of Lance Stroll, while Valtteri Bottas was a hundredth faster than Gabriel Bortoleto to complete the field.
