Max Verstappen topped second practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix as championship leader Oscar Piastri continued his poor performance, finishing in just 12th place.
Verstappen was one of nine drivers to skip first practice as most teams ran rookie drivers to meet regulations, but he immediately got up to speed to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.153 seconds.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli overcame early problems to finish third behind Lando Norris, 0.251 seconds behind frontrunner Verstappen.
Piastri was the only titleholder to run in the first practice, but his extra track time did not translate into strong pace as he finished 0.840 seconds behind the Dutchman.
The session results matched the final four rounds, with Verstappen going wide in the title race, trailing Piastri by 40 points with five rounds remaining, while Norris was 14 points behind his McLaren team-mate.
Red Bull are the only team with a performance upgrade this weekend, having brought a revised version of the Monza floor that marks the start of Verstappen’s championship charge in early September.
Yuki Tsunoda highlighted Red Bull’s strong pace in seventh place. He hasn’t regularly ranked in the top 10 on Fridays this year.
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Watch Max Verstappen’s momentum continue as he tops the second practice timetable at the Mexico City GP.
Lewis Hamilton set the best lap on the softs in his second effort but finished three tenths behind Verstappen at the track where Ferrari’s last victory took place 12 months ago.
George Russell, who briefly watched the first practice from the stands, took 6th place, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took 8th place, and his teammate Lance Stroll took 10th place.
Carlos Sainz continued his strong form in the ninth, while team-mate Alex Albon was the only driver to touch the outside wall at the final corner.
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Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled for grip at the same corner in practice 2 ahead of the Mexico City GP and almost hit the corner sign.
Verstappen ‘concerned’ about race pace
Verstappen, looking to match Michael Schumacher’s record of five consecutive wins, has sparked a remarkable turnaround by converting three pole positions into wins in the last four races.
Red Bull’s lack of racing pace was McLaren’s biggest deficit in the summer’s European races, with Verstappen warning that he needed to find something on the long runs if it felt like “driving on ice”.
“In the soft, we were able to get a good lap in the short term, but everything else was pretty bad,” he said.
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Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies gives his thoughts on Max Verstappen’s title push ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
“The middle and middle distance races haven’t been great and the big problem is the long distances where we have seemed to struggle a lot, so that’s obviously a big concern for the race.
“The balance wasn’t even, there was just no grip. That’s the bigger problem. As soon as you start riding sustainably, the tires get hot. We’ve been nowhere, so that’s a hard thing to sort out too, but we’ll see.
“You can’t win a race that way. You can run one lap fast, but if you have no speed at all in the race, it will be very difficult. So I prefer to be fast in a race and not one lap too fast.”
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The F1 Podcast team discusses Max Verstappen’s title chances ahead of the Mexico City GP.
Team principal Laurent Mekies insists Red Bull are still taking it “race-by-race” and not thinking about the championship.
Mekies said Sky Sports F1: “I don’t think we should discount what we did in Austin. It’s hard to win a race. Max had a tremendous weekend and everyone is very happy with it.
“Everyone at Milton Keynes is working hard and it gives us more incentive. We don’t look at championship grades, we look at it session by session.
“It’s positive pressure (on Verstappen). I don’t think there’s anyone pushing harder than him. We’re trying to extract everything we can. The commitment is there.”
Sky Sports F1 Mexico City GP Schedule
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Saturday, October 25th
6.15pm: Mexico City GP Practice 3 (session starts at 6.30pm)
9pm: Preparing for Mexico City GP qualifying*
10pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying*
Sunday, October 26
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP strengthened*
8 p.m.: Mexico City Grand Prix*
10pm: Checkered flag: Mexico City GP reaction
*Applies to Sky Sports main event as well
Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this weekend for the Mexico City Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports NOW – No Commitment, Cancel Anytime
