After their first lap at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the drivers with Honda engines looked pretty strong. Verstappen took the lead with 1.18.818, while AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda, who was penalized and started the race from behind, was second.
Verstappen focused on fast laps in his first stint, and maintained his lead with the fastest lap time of 1,18,206 at the end of the eighth minute.
Hamilton got stuck behind one of the Alfa Romeos on the first laps and failed to make a clean lap. Capturing 1,18,779 in his second fastest lap attempt, Hamilton fell to third place, passing to Perez, who was racing at home, even though he was second for a short time.
However, the 7-time world champion British pilot’s tour was deleted on the grounds that it did not comply with the double yellow flags. On his next lap, Hamilton locked both of his front tires on the way to the first corner and overflowed, throwing a set of tires into the trash.
With 14 minutes left in the session, Williams driver George Russell drove slowly across the main straight and told his team he had experienced a gearbox malfunction. Although Russell managed to pit his car, he missed the rest of the practice.
Hamilton was able to do his first smooth lap in practice when half the session was behind and temporarily took the lead with 1,17,810. Verstappen, who came to the line seconds after Hamilton, took the lead from his main opponent by making 1.17.301.
Perez took third place temporarily with a lap 0.061 seconds slower than Hamilton, while Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas finished second with a lap of 1.17,725.
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12
Photo: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
In the final 10 minutes, Williams driver Nicholas Latifi lost control at the exit of the stadium area and was able to stop his car just inches from hitting the barriers. As the vehicle stopped for a short time, yellow flags appeared, but Latifi continued on his way.
At the end of the session, there was no change and Verstappen managed to take the lead in front of Bottas. Hamilton was third, while Perez with fellow Red Bull was fourth.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the fastest of the rest, while AlphaTauri and Pierre Gasly performed well, finishing sixth. With the other Ferrari, Charles Leclerc finished seventh, despite complaining about engine settings at the end of the session.
Tsunoda is in eighth place, while two former world champions round out the top 10: Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.
McLaren’s Lando Norris finished 12th between the two Alfa Romeos – Raikkonen and Giovinazzi respectively – while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished 14th.
McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo finished 15th in the session, where he could only go 7 laps and was stuck on the road with gearbox failure. Ricciardo, who is the second person to have a gearbox problem today, is also the second Mercedes engine driver to have this problem.
Mick Schumacher’s impressive performance with Haas took 16th place, beating Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Latifi. In 19th place was Schumacher’s teammate Nikita Mazepin. Russell, who couldn’t make a time lap, took 20th place.
Mexican GP 2nd training session results:
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