Friday Report - Verstappen heads Mexico FP2 with new floor

Max Verstappen
© Red Bull

Verstappen heads Mexico FP2 with new floor

Max Verstappen returned to Formula 1 action in style on Friday afternoon in Mexico City, topping Free Practice 2 with a 1m17.392s lap as Red Bull trialled an upgraded floor on the RB21. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was 0.153s behind, while Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli impressed again in third.

After missing FP1 to allow Red Bull reserve Arvid Lindblad to take the wheel, Verstappen immediately got down to business on a much cleaner Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit. Using flow-vis paint to evaluate the new floor, he worked through medium- and soft-tyre runs before setting his session-topping time midway through the hour. The Dutchman later complained that his medium-tyre long run “felt like driving on ice,” but his outright pace looked convincing.

Leclerc had led much of the early running, lowering the benchmark to 1m17.545s on softs before Verstappen edged ahead. The Ferrari driver completed 32 laps as the Scuderia continued to refine its high-downforce package for the thin-air conditions. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton slotted fifth on 1m17.692s, behind Antonelli’s 1m17.566s and McLaren’s Lando Norris on 1m17.643s.

Norris endured a troubled session after missing FP1—his McLaren had been driven by Mexican fan favourite Pato O’Ward earlier in the day—and he reported intermittent “misfires” during his soft-tyre runs. Even so, the Briton’s 1m17.643s was enough for fourth, just 0.25s off the pace.

George Russell followed in sixth for Mercedes (1m17.829s), while Yuki Tsunoda impressed in seventh (1m17.883s) in the second Red Bull. Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin took eighth (1m17.938s), narrowly ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Williams (1m17.939s) and team-mate Lance Stroll (1m17.954s), leaving only four-tenths covering second through tenth.

Oscar Piastri’s 12th-place finish (1m18.232s) left McLaren scratching their heads, as the championship leader struggled to find front-end grip throughout the hour. He trailed team-mate Norris by nearly a second. Behind them, Esteban Ocon (1m18.266s) headed the midfield for Haas, with Isack Hadjar close behind in 14th for Racing Bulls.

Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto (1m18.323s) and Nico Hülkenberg (1m18.348s) were 15th and 16th, while Oliver Bearman placed 17th for Haas. Franco Colapinto (1m18.721s) and Pierre Gasly (1m19.194s) endured another difficult day for Alpine, the pair sandwiching Alex Albon’s Williams (1m18.855s), who clipped the wall late in the session.