Leclerc tops FP2 to complete another perfect Friday
For the first time this weekend, all 22 drivers on the 2026 Formula One grid took to the track at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. In the first free practice session earlier today, Charles Leclerc topped the hour's timesheets which featured 10 rookie drivers, including Frederik Vesti who filled in for George Russell and finished third fastest.
In the second practice session in Mexico, Leclerc was dominant once again. This time, he was followed by Lando Norris and Russell, who both finished one tenth behind the Ferrari driver.
On his out lap and his first time on track this weekend, Esteban Ocon complained about the understeer in the Haas. Following this, Oliver Bearman came to a halt after he seemingly lost some power at Turn 3, but he managed to get going again and made his way back into the pits.
Early on, Arvid Lindblad set the fastest lap time of 1:20:275, ahead of the likes of Verstappen and Norris, but it wasn't long until Hadjar claimed that top spot, going six tenths quicker.
Oscar Piastri, after finishing eighth in FP1 went fastest again, before Hamilton went fastest with 1:18:741, only six tenths off the pace of Leclerc's quickest FP1 time. And it wasn't long until Leclerc reclaimed his spot at the top of the timesheets, with a lap time of 1:18:257.
Gabriel Bortoleto, after sitting out of FP1 for rookie Freddie Slater, seemed to have a technical issue with the Audi. We saw some problems in the previous practice session, with Slater sitting out for most of it, but it seems these issues carried over and prevented the Brazilian from getting track time.
Less than 15 minutes into the second practice, the session was red flagged due to some debris on the track. This came from contact made between Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen, where Verstappen went up the inside of Lawson's Racing Bulls car, and carried on side by side into Turn 14 where the contact was made.
Meanwhile, as the red flag was waved, Lance Stroll reported to his team over the radio that the car was 'broken'. This follows Jak Crawford's stint in the AMR26 in FP1, where the American had to stop the car due to a technical issue. Similarly to Bortoleto, the technical issues with the cars seem persistent in this Friday's second session.
It didn't take long to get the debris cleared up, and following the red flag, we saw Norris make his way out onto the track on fresh tyres after locking up on his previous timed lap. The reigning Drivers' World Champion managed to go sixth fastest, 0.996 seconds off pace of Leclerc at the top.
However, Norris' next timed lap proved his soft compound tyres were holding up well as the Briton went to the top of the timesheets, with a time of 1:18:161. Leclerc, on the other hand, locked up into Turn 1, with his medium tyres not cooperating just as well.
Piastri moved up again and into third, going just ahead of Hamilton, who had to stop his car at the side just after Turn 3, initiating a Virtual Safety Car (VSC). His Friday came to an early end as the SF-26 lost power.
Hadjar had a strong push lap, pulling himself back up to third on the board following a difficult FP1, where he finished 11th. Leclerc then went fastest again, with the quickest time of the weekend yet, putting in a time of 1:17:827.
Russell crossed the line on his lap and moved ahead of his teammate and into third, but was still one tenth off of Leclerc's pace.
Ocon had another push lap and moved from 15th up into 12th, bouncing back slightly from the earlier technical issues.
Verstappen struggled to find the right pace after his contact with Lawson earlier in the session. He went only fifth fastest, just ahead of his teammate, but it wasn't quite enough to compete with Leclerc and Norris up ahead.
Despite missing out on much of the session, Bortoleto got out onto the track towards the end of the session and got a timed lap in. He was the slowest of the rest of the drivers, but the track time was still valuable heading into Saturday.
As the chequered flag was waved, the session ended with Leclerc on top once again, with a time of 1:17:827. This time, he was followed by Norris and Russell. Leclerc seems to be dominant in these Friday practice sessions as of late, following the Monégasque's perfect Friday last weekend in Austin. But can this weekend be the one where he converts these perfect practice laps into qualifying and race pace?
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