F1 Mexico GP: Verstappen leads FP2 from Norris, Leclerc

After Daniel Ricciardo, Norris, Verstappen and Alex Albon had enjoyed brief spells in the top spot during the opening quarter of the one-hour session, Verstappen seized it again with a 1m19.511s set on the standard 2023 Pirelli C4 mediums.

That stood as the benchmark for the remainder of the early laps the field completed on the hard, medium and prototype mediums, with Oscar Piastri then leading the switch to softs a few minutes past the one-third distance.

He duly blitzed to the top spot with a 1m19.163s on the red-walled rubber, with most of the rest of the field also taking that compound for qualifying simulation runs over the next 10 minutes.

Fernando Alonso then had the session's most dramatic moment shortly before the halfway point when he spun out of Turn 9 with 25 minutes on the board.

In that incident, Alonso ran too hard over the inside kerbs of the rapid left-hander and the rear came around so severely he was spun completely around, pirouetting across the full duration of the short straight leading down to Turn 10.

Albon slotted in behind Piastri before both were demoted by others going quicker – led by Verstappen's 1m18.686s set just after Alonso's spin, with Norris coming in 0.119s behind in his wake.

Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez initially failed to beat his personal best set early in FP2 while running the prototype mediums, before he climbed up the order with a 1m18.988s that was 0.302s off the pace.

Perez was then demoted by Valtteri Bottas and Leclerc, who took third as one of the last drivers bar the Aston Martin pair to set a time on the softs.

With heavy clouds rolling in above the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – rain having lashed down overnight in Mexico City and a few spots falling over the final corners and pitlane early in FP2 – the pack switched to the typical closing-FP2 high-fuel long runs.

During this, the rain returned with just over 15 minutes remaining – initially at a light intensity before coming down ever more steadily in the final minutes, although not to a point where the field had to consider pitting or switching to intermediates.

The Aston pair not completing a soft tyre run meant the top five places went untouched to the end, with Ricciardo ending up sixth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who posted the quickest time in the final sector on his qualifying simulation effort but ended up 0.338s behind Verstappen.

Esteban Ocon took eighth ahead of Piastri, with George Russell rounding out the top 10 ahead of Carlos Sainz – the pair lacking laps in FP1 with Frederik Vesti having driven Russell's W13 in the opening session and Sainz losing time there due to a hydraulics failure issue that stopped the power steering working aboard his Ferrari.

Lance Stroll completed the fewest laps of all due to a problem with the left-front wheel on his Aston confining him to the pits for most of FP2's second half, with Alonso finishing down in 20th, two places behind his team-mate, as he switched to long-running after his qualifying simulation effort was lost to his spin.

Albon returned to the pits ahead of the final five minutes so Williams could inspect his car after a piece of underfloor aerodynamics began trailing along the floor as the session's end approached.

He did not go out again and ended up 14th in the standings, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who registered the session's quickest time in the first sector on his soft tyre run, before fading to finish 0.849s off Verstappen, most of that time shipped in the track's middle segment.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	26	1'18.686		196.914
2	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	31	+0.119 1'18.805	0.119	196.616
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	33	+0.266 1'18.952	0.147	196.250
4	V. Bottas Alfa Romeo	77		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	33	+0.269 1'18.955	0.003	196.243
5	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	29	+0.302 1'18.988	0.033	196.161
6	D. Ricciardo AlphaTauri	3		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	31	+0.316 1'19.002	0.014	196.126
7	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	30	+0.338 1'19.024	0.022	196.072
8	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	29	+0.391 1'19.077	0.053	195.940
9	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	31	+0.477 1'19.163	0.086	195.727
10	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+0.541 1'19.227	0.064	195.569
11	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	34	+0.571 1'19.257	0.030	195.495
12	Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	34	+0.604 1'19.290	0.033	195.414
13	G. Zhou Alfa Romeo	24		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	27	+0.729 1'19.415	0.125	195.106
14	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	23	+0.760 1'19.446	0.031	195.030
15	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	29	+0.849 1'19.535	0.089	194.812
16	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	29	+0.956 1'19.642	0.107	194.550
17	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	26	+1.214 1'19.900	0.258	193.922
18	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	17	+1.389 1'20.075	0.175	193.498
19	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	30	+1.426 1'20.112	0.037	193.409
20	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	30	+1.740 1'20.426	0.314	192.654
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