Leclerc: We're behind Red Bull and McLaren, but that's to be expected.

      Charles Leclerc posted the second‑fastest time in the second practice of the Mexican Grand Prix. The Monegasque is pleased with the car, but after the session he admitted that rivals from McLaren and Red Bull Racing still have an advantage over Ferrari.

      Lewis Hamilton missed the first practice, giving the seat to the team's reserve driver Antonio Fuoco, who made his Formula 1 debut in an official session of the race weekend.

      Charles Leclerc (2nd): "Friday was positive. But we are still behind Red Bull, especially with a low fuel load, and behind McLaren with a full tank. In that sense there were no surprises, because even before the weekend we expected they would be stronger.

      I put together some good laps, so I'm quite happy with the car. We need to keep working, and I hope we can improve a little more.

      With a full tank we look a bit better than Red Bull, but McLaren are in their own league. I don't know where they get such high speed from. I hope they just had less fuel in the tanks, but I don't know. They are very strong, so at the moment there is no feeling that we can fight them in the race. But we will try to make changes to get closer to them."

      Lewis Hamilton (5th): "I was surprised how close to the leaders we were, considering the car felt quite poor to drive. Every year when we come here the aero has to be set for a high level of downforce due to the circuit's high altitude. But it feels as if the downforce is even less than at Monza. The car slides all over the track, we're trying to find grip, but there isn't enough.

      By the way, I can say there are a lot of mosquitoes here, and it's absolute madness! I thought the mosquitoes were bad in Jamaica, but Mexico City is second in that regard.

      Overall, you can't call the day's results terrible. I missed the first practice because Antonio Fuoco was in my car, and he did a good job. I watched with interest how he drove and I'm glad he enjoyed it.

      The car is sliding a lot, we haven't found a proper balance yet, so we still need to work on the setup to make the SF-25 behave better on the straights. Since it's not a rally car, there is nothing good about sliding.

      We will analyse all the collected information, try to make some plans, but I definitely wouldn't want to start a Grand Prix in a car in the condition it was in today. It's not a catastrophe, of course, but we need to get the tyres working more effectively, because I know the car is capable of a higher pace."

      Antonio Fuoco (20th in the first session): "It was a special session. I thank everyone in the team, the whole Ferrari family, for this incredible opportunity. I'm really proud of the result and I think we worked well in the practice.

      The task was to get a feel for the car and compare it with the simulator. It was important to understand this difference not only for me but for the team.

      It was my first time competing in Mexico, so the track was new to me, but I left with a good impression of the session. Of course there are areas where we can improve, but today was not about showing speed or taking risks. The important thing was to understand how the car feels, gather data for the simulator and simply enjoy it."