Verstappen was fastest in the second practice.
Second Free Practice
Sunny. Dry. Air +25°C, track +37°C
Full stands on a Friday are rare, but in Mexico it happens. In the first practice nine of the ten teams (except Sauber) put a young driver in one of the cars, while the regulars ran in the second session. The day moved toward evening, the heat eased.
Compared with the first practice the track surface improved – drivers immediately began assessing tyre performance, running series of laps – first on Medium, then on Soft, but the tyres overheated and wore quickly. The Hard tyres, here the C2 compound, proved too hard for the Mexican circuit.
There were incidents. Early in the session Antonelli’s power unit switched to emergency mode, but the problem was resolved without returning to the pits. Norris complained of ignition misfires, but he also stayed on track.
Stroll caught a plastic bag and went off at Turn 12. Ocon ran off at Turn 1, Hamilton and Russell at Turn 10 – with no consequences for the cars. Albon clipped the wall with his rear-left wheel at Turn 16, leaving a noticeable scratch. Tsunoda and Hajar attacked the kerb hard in Turn 2 – mechanics had to inspect the underfloor.
Max Verstappen set the best time, lapping on Soft tyres in 1:17.392. On the short circuit the top ten were within half a second – qualifying will be tight.
Second Free Practice
Driver
Team
Time
Gap
Laps
1. M. Verstappen
Red Bull
1:17.392
-
34
2. Ch. Leclerc
Ferrari
1:17.545
+0.153
32
3. K. Antonelli
Mercedes
1:17.566
+0.174
27
4. L. Norris
McLaren
1:17.643
+0.251
31
5. L. Hamilton
Ferrari
1:17.692
+0.300
30
6. G. Russell
Mercedes
1:17.829
+0.437
33
7. Y. Tsunoda
Red Bull
1:17.883
+0.491
31
8. F. Alonso
Aston Martin
1:17.938
+0.546
29
9. C. Sainz
Williams
1:17.939
+0.547
34
10. L. Stroll
Aston Martin
1:17.954
+0.562
30
11. L. Lawson
Racing Bulls
1:18.218
+0.826
32
12. O. Piastri
McLaren
1:18.232
+0.840
31
13. E. Ocon
Haas
1:18.266
+0.874
31
14. A. Hajar
Racing Bulls
1:18.281
+0.889
30
15. G. Bortoleto
Sauber
1:18.323
+0.931
30
16. N. Hülkenberg
Sauber
1:18.348
+0.956
29
17. O. Berman
Haas
1:18.442
+1.050
34
18. F. Colapinto
Alpine
1:18.721
+1.329
31
19. A. Albon
Williams
1:18.855
+1.463
31
20. P. Gasly
Alpine
1:19.194
+1.802
30
First Free Practice
Sunny. Dry. Air +23°C, track +48°C
All teams are required during the season to put a young driver who has contested no more than two Grands Prix in the car in four practice sessions. Fulfilling that obligation, nine teams in Mexico immediately replaced one of their regular drivers. Only Sauber ran both regular drivers.
At Alpine Paul Aron replaced Pierre Gasly, at Haas Rio Hirakawa replaced Oliver Berman, at McLaren Pato O’Ward replaced Lando Norris, at Mercedes Frederik Vesti replaced George Russell, at Racing Bulls Ayumu Iwasa replaced Liam Lawson, at Red Bull Racing Arvid Lindblad replaced Max Verstappen, at Williams Luke Browning replaced Carlos Sainz.
Two drivers made their Formula 1 debuts in an official weekend session. At Ferrari Antonio Fuoco replaced Lewis Hamilton, and Jack Crawford sat in Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.
The Mexico circuit is rarely used; the asphalt in the first practice was dusty and dirty, so by skipping it the regular drivers lost nothing, and the young drivers were not in a hurry to attack so as not to risk a crash. Although everyone wanted to be higher up the timesheets, closer to or even ahead of their experienced teammate.
Drivers started the session on Hard, then moved to softer compounds. Everyone tried to complete as many laps as possible; on the short circuit many were hindered by traffic – no team had GPS data in the first session, so they simply couldn’t space their cars around the track.
There were incidents, but small ones. Aron went off at Turn 1, Lindblad and Hajar at Turn 12, Colapinto ran wide in the esses, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Charles Leclerc set the best time, lapping in 1:18.380. Of the young drivers only Lindblad outpaced Tsunoda; in the other teams the experienced drivers were ahead.
First Free Practice
Driver
Team
Time
Gap
Laps
1. Ch. Leclerc
Ferrari
1:18.380
-
29
2. K. Antonelli
Mercedes
1:18.487
+0.107
35
3. N. Hülkenberg
Sauber
1:18.760
+0.380
27
4. O. Piastri
McLaren
1:18.784
+0.404
31
5. G. Bortoleto
Sauber
1:18.916
+0.536
28
6. A. Lindblad
Red Bull
1:18.997
+0.617
26
7. E. Ocon
Haas
1:19.038
+0.658
29
8. Y. Tsunoda
Red Bull
1:19.090
+0.710
29
9. F. Colapinto
Alpine
1:19.331
+0.951
28
10. A. Albon
Williams
1:19.384
+1.004
33
11. A. Hajar
Racing Bulls
1:19.409
+1.029
32
12. F. Alonso
Aston Martin
1:19.472
+1.092
26
13. P. O’Ward
McLaren
1:19.680
+1.300
30
14. F. Vesti
Mercedes
1:19.689
+1.309
32
15. P. Aron
Alpine
1:19.862
+1.482
29
16. R. Hirakawa
Haas
1:20.073
+1.693
27
17. A. Iwasa
Racing Bulls
1:20.153
+1.773
29
18. L. Browning
Williams
1:20.310
+1.930
31
19. J. Crawford
Aston Martin
1:20.371
+1.991
29
20. A. Fuoco
Ferrari
1:20.854
+2.474
29
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