It was a spicy FP2 on the Components 1 Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari misplaced energy and stopped on monitor, whereas teammate Charles Leclerc set the quickest time for the second session in a row.
“One thing is unsuitable with the facility, I misplaced all energy by means of Flip 13,” Hamilton reported, earlier than his engineer informed him: “We have to cease the automobile.” He parked trackside, bringing out a quick Digital Security Automotive, and took no additional half.
Leclerc topped the session with a 1m 17.827s. Lando Norris was second, simply 0.103s again, with George Russell an extra 0.003s behind in third.
The session was disrupted from the beginning. Each Haas drivers had early issues. Esteban Ocon reported an influence steering subject and got here into the pits, whereas Oliver Bearman went off at Flip 3 and crawled again to the storage. Haas mentioned Bearman’s drawback was a software program subject, and he was shortly again on monitor.
Audi had a extra major problem. A component was faraway from Gabriel Bortoleto’s automobile with a transparent leak earlier than the session. “Gabriel’s automobile skilled a technical subject forward of FP2,” the crew mentioned. “The crew is at the moment investigating the character of the problem, and the crew is working exhausting to get the automobile out on monitor earlier than the top of the session.” A brand new ground was later introduced into the storage. Bortoleto, whose automobile was pushed by Freddie Slater in FP1, lastly emerged on mediums within the remaining ten minutes.
Norris locked up into Flip 1 and went straight throughout the grass, radioing that it was “recreation over” for his flat-spotted mediums. He switched to softs for his flying laps and should have needed to do his long term on the identical compound.
Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson trigger Purple Flag
The purple flag got here out for particles at Flip 15 after Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson made contact whereas preventing on monitor. “He actually simply drove into me!” Lawson mentioned on the radio. Each continued, however bodywork was left on the circuit and Verstappen ran the remainder of the session with a broken ground. Lawson can also have been carrying injury. Not a perfect session when preventing for his F1 future.
Lance Stroll then reported an issue. “The automobile is damaged, man. It’s not working correctly,” he mentioned.
Leclerc struggled on his first delicate run however went quickest on his subsequent try. By the midway mark, simply 0.311s coated the highest 4 F1 groups: Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Purple Bull.
Isack Hadjar additionally had a scare. “Oh, my God. Had the largest bottoming of all time. Verify the automobile, test the ground. It was so unhealthy,” he mentioned on the radio.
Russell went third on his second flying run, a tenth forward of F1 championship chief Kimi Antonelli. Russell admitted yesterday that his teammate had “been at a better degree than me this 12 months”, however Friday was a stronger day for him. Regardless of his ground injury, Verstappen was fifth after his first delicate run, three tenths off the tempo.
Oscar Piastri had a detailed name, sliding perilously close to the boundaries earlier than catching it. He sat eighth, a way off Norris’s tempo.
Ocon and his race engineer had a dispute over tyres within the storage. When informed the crew had swapped his deliberate high-fuel run to mediums, Ocon protested: “No, no, I need to do delicate. Like, don’t try this to me. Come on.” He went out on softs.
Fernando Alonso was twelfth, lower than eight tenths off the lead and forward of each Haas automobiles, an Audi and an Alpine. That’s nearer to the entrance than Aston Martin have been lately, although Lance Stroll’s drawback dulled their day.
READ MORE: F1 2026 Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix – FP2 Outcomes
