Leclerc sweeps second Mexico City GP practice

Charles Leclerc swept Friday's second practice session at the Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of Lando Norris.

Leclerc set multiple laps on a set of softs to progressively lower the benchmark to 1m17.827s.

Norris momentarily moved into top spot but was beaten by 0.103s despite his McLaren looking characteristically difficult to drive, including with a big lock-up at Turn 1 on his opening set of mediums.

George Russell completed his soft run late and improved to third, 0.106s off the pace, to slot ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli by 0.111s.

Max Verstappen was similarly late to softs and moved up to fifth with his run, 0.311s off the pace, but will see the stewards after the session following a bizarre altercation with Liam Lawson early in the session.

Both drivers appeared to be either on or preparing to start a push lap when Verstappen attempted to overtake Lawson down the inside of Turn 12. They ran side by side into the stadium section, where Verstappen attempted to hang around Lawson’s outside and ended up off the track. He cut across Turn 13 and rejoined alongside Lawson, and the two cars made contact. The Racing Bulls machine took the brunt of the damage, losing parts of its front wing.

A brief red flag was called to clear the debris, with Lawson taking repairs during the break.

Isack Hadjar was sixth fastest, 0.099s behind Verstappen.

Arvid Lindblad was seventh, 0.562s off the pace, 0.018s ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and 0.066s ahead of Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson.

Oscar Piastri was a chunky 0.642s off the pace in 10th. He scotched his final flying lap with a big slide through the fast final corner after having set personal best times in the opening two sectors.

Lewis Hamilton’s session ended with an engine problem that forced him to park his Ferrari by the side of the road. The Englishman was two-thirds of the way through a flying lap on softs when he lost power, and he was subsequently instructed by the team to abandon the session.

Fernando Alonso was 12th for Aston Martin ahead of Haas teammates Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, who suffered early power steering and engine software issues respectively but completed the session without trouble.

Nico Hulkenberg was 15th ahead of Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, who was 1.579s off the pace for Cadillac.

Alex Albon was 19th ahead of Lance Stroll, who complained early in the session that his car was “fully broken.” He was able to return to the track after a spell in the pits and ended the session with 24 laps.

Valtteri Bottas was 21st ahead of only Gabriel Bortoleto, who completed 12 laps after spending most of the session in the garage watching frantic repairs to his car after an apparent leak.

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