Charles Leclerc kept Ferrari on top in second practice for the 2026 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix, despite a messy session in which he went off track twice and teammate Lewis Hamilton broke down on track with an engine problem and Max Verstappen collided with Red Bull teammate Liam Lawson.
The Ferraris established a comfortable advantage early in the race on the harder Pirelli tire compounds, despite a sinister slide from Leclerc, with him and Hamilton 1-2 using the medium tire and six tenths clear of the hard-tyre McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
After missing the first practice, Verstappen decided to go straight with the soft tyres, but was only fifth fastest and a full second off the pace before a bizarre incident with Lawson caused a red flag.
Verstappen dove inside the Racing Bulls as they braked into Turn 12, gesturing towards Lawson as they exited the corner side by side.
Lawson stayed on the inside of Verstappen until the left hairpin of the following Turn 13 and the two then collided on the right-hander of Turn 14 as Verstappen went off track, went over the inside curb and into Lawson’s car.
The incident shattered the Red Bull’s left dashboard and a red flag stop was necessary to clear the debris.
Once the session resumed, championship leader Kimi Antonelli attempted a final run on a medium tire which separated the two Ferraris. He was absolutely level with Leclerc after two sectors, but encountered the Alpine of Pierre Gasly in the final sequence of corners and found himself three tenths behind.
Leclerc maintained Ferrari’s place at the top of the timesheet during qualifying simulations on soft tires, despite running wide into Turn 12 after meeting the Cadillac of Sergio Perez on his first flying lap, then stalling hard under braking for Turn 1 on a second attempt.
Leclerc finally put together a few laps and managed two in the 1m17 bracket, with Leclerc’s best of 1m17.827 being enough to beat Lando Norris’ McLaren by 0.103 seconds.
George Russell finished third in the best Mercedes, just 0.003 seconds slower than Norris and 0.111 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Antonelli.
Verstappen returned to the track in his damaged Red Bull and managed to place fifth, albeit three tenths off the pace, while teammate Isack Hadjar completed the top six, just under a tenth behind Verstappen.
Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls, Gasly’s Alpine, Lawson’s Racing Bulls and Piastri’s McLaren completed the top 10, while Hamilton’s loss of power cut his qualifying run short and left him only 11th fastest, slightly ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin Honda.
Mexican GP FP2 results
1Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m17.827s
2Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.103s
3 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.106s
4Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.217s
5Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.311s
6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.410s
7 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.562s
8 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +0.580s
9 Liam Lawson (Running Bulls) +0.628s
10Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.642s
11 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.685s
12Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.769s
13Esteban Ocon (Haas) +0.947s
14Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.022s
15 Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) +1.196s
16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.305s
17Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.421s
18 Sergio Pérez (Cadillac) +1.579s
19Alex Albon (Williams) +1.751s
20 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.804s
21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.338s
22Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2.347s
Gn sports
